A Nightmare To Remember
by Shadow Master
Summary: A Gargoyles/A Nightmare on Elm Street Crossover. This has nothing to do with my mainstream Gargoyles Fan Fiction universe. It is just a crossover I thought would be cool to write. In terms of timeline it occurs after Hunter's Moon.
1. He's coming.

"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master 

"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email address: rybreen@centris.theberries.ns.ca

Disclaimer: Elisa Maza, Goliath and all other characters associated with 

the Gargoyles TV show are the property of Buena Vista Television. Freddy 

Krueger and all things associated in the Nightmare on Elm Street 

Franchise belong to New Line Cinema or more precisely the creator of 

Freddy, Wes Craven. Both these things do not belong to me and I am not 

using them for profit or gain at all. This is just for my personal 

entertainment and the entertainment of others. So basically all you 

lawyers can stop writing up a number to sue me for right now.

Note: This is not a part of my usual universe where Elisa is in exile, 

K'Stine is a Lionian-turned-Fey and two of the three Wierd Sisters are 

dead. I am just taking a break from that usual duldrom to do some 

crossovers I have been eager to do and since no one else seems to have 

come up with anything similar I will be the first. Keep in mind though 

when you read this that I have only seen 'A Nightmare On Elm Street", "A 

Nightmare on Elm Street Part 6: Freddy's Dead" and "Wes Craven's A New 

Nightmare" and so I am not exactly an expert on the movie's I will 

undoubtedly make a few mistakes and the Freddy in this will lose some 

crucial element. Personally I hope that any who read this will try and 

write their own Freddy/Gargoyles crossover and do a far better job 

because I would really like to read it. Well enough jabbering from me in 

the back row, on with the show..............

"A Nightmare To Remember"

123 Washington Drive, Manhattan, 1:15 a.m

"Gotta stay awake, gotta stay awake!" chanted Mike Havender as he continued to pop pills into his mouth and wash them down with a mug of coffee.

This night was by far the hardest for him, for five days straight he had managed to keep himself from falling asleep and handing his soul over to *him* but here on the sixth day he felt his body on the verge of 

collapse. Legs like lead and eyes like anvils he had to continually burn himself on the hotplate in front of him to keep himself from nodding off. Sad part was that he had burned his arms to such a degree that the pain was beginning to change into numbness as he burned away the nerves which registered pain. Eventually he was going to have to be more inventive about how he could keep himself awake without burning himself and the alternatives were few. He had tried just about everything he could think of, from drugs to caffeine to pain, and still he was slowly losing ground to his unseen enemy.

Strewn about his apartment were the remnants of his previous attempts to keep himself awake as well as five days worth of mess and dust. He hadn't really been doing much of anything besides trying to stay awake, after all doing stuff would just make him more tired rather than less and he would need all the time he could buy for himself. In the back of his mind he realized that this was probably a futile struggle, that it was only a matter of time before he would nod off and it would all be over for him. After all nothing lasted forever and that included his ability to will himself to stay awake, already his mind was beginning to slow down with fatigue and with that the rest of his body.

Maybe I should just surrender, after all what's the point? he thought to himself gloomily as he gazed down at the mug of coffee that he held in his hand.

Realizing that he was talking crazy he slapped himself a couple of times in the face and went over to his sound system, placed one of his heavy rock CDs in and cranked the volume to it's limit. It would probably wear out his speakers as well as bring the landlord down his throat but he would rather face that overweight bastard than see the scars of *him*. Hitting play he was relieved when the sound and vibrations of the music seemed to give him a slightly higher level of alertness then he had possessed before. He smiled to himself, maybe he could outlast old scarface after all, and with a heave plopped himself back down on his couch where he believed he would spend the next couple of days. Mike flicked on the TV and turned on his Sony Playstation, hoping that this would keep his mind occupied and tell him how drowsy he was based on his performance. Picking up his controller he picked his fighter and went to work kickin' ass and taking names with the computer controlled characters.

This went on for an hour and slowly but surely he could tell that he was getting worse, now he couldn't even get three opponents into the game before he got his butt handed to him. Reaching over he grabbed his pill bottle only to realize that it was empty, empty even though he could have sworn that he had still half a bottle left. Shaking his head he assumed that he had just counted wrong and decided to go out and get another bottle, after all the consequences if he didn't were not at all pleasant. Just then there was an incessant pounding on the door and the familiar cursing of the landlord coming through from the other side. Mike silently cursed his luck and prepared himself for a shouting match and perhaps even a slugfest. Grabbing his welfare check he prepared to hand it over to the landlord in the hopes that not only would it allow him to live here for at least a month but also get the butthead on the other side of the door to leave him alone.

Should probably just shoot the jerk someday, at least then I might do the world some good before I go. he thought grimly to himself as he began to walk towards the door.

"Lavender!! Turn that stinking music down or I'm throwing you out of here head first!!" the thick voice yelled through the wall.

"Yeah and how are you gonna do that asshole!?" Mike asked sarcastically as he turned the knob and swung the door open.

"Why, by cutting it off your head and tossing it out the window of course!" yelled the man standing before him in the dirty brown fedora.

The last thing Mike saw before the end was a metal glove swinging towards him with metal talons attached to each finger and thumb.

***********************************************************************

Elisa Maze's Apartment, 8:30 Am.

"Brrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnngggggg" rang the phone once again as it finally managed to cut through the layers of sleep that covered Elisa while she slept.

"Uhhhh, whoever is on the other end of that phone had better have a damn good reason for waking me up right now" Elisa mumbled as she threw her covers off and made her way into the living room.

It seemed like only minutes ago she was getting into her nightgown and slipping beneath the covers for a well deserved 10 hours sleep before her shift began at six in the evening. It had been a busy night for both her and Matt since they had been involved with a sting operation involving some gun runners that had come over from the land of the rising sun. She and Matt had only been allowed to be a part of it because they had been the ones to discover it in the first place and knew the city better the feds that got sent in to deal with it. So after a five hour stakeout and a one hour firefight they had caught the bad guys and managed to keep a load of military grade weaponry off the street. Believe it or not but it wasn't the actual sting that had made her so eagerly anticipate getting to bed, instead it was the archaic old fossil the people at the F.B.I had sent to supervise the operation was a chauvinistic pig. It had seemed like every five minutes he was making some sort of wisecrack about the way she did things or was throwing around some crude female cop jokes. To his credit he actually did a pretty good job when the time for action 

finally came but that didn't mean that she didn't send up a silent prayer of thanks when he finally left.

If this is him wanting to deliver a final parting shot before his trip back to Washington I swear he's going to get a whopping reprimand in his record she thought to herself as she finally reached the phone on it's third ring and picked up the reciever.

"Maza! Who the hell is this!?!?" she asked with a snap hoping that it would be enough to discourage any further calls from this person for the rest of the day.

"Maza it's Chavez and since you've just woken up I'll forget what you just asked." , Captain Maria Chavez of the 23rd prescient replied with a sympathizing undertone in her voice, "Sorry to drag you out of bed Detective but something's gone down that needs to be handled quickly and efficiently so I elected you and your partner for the job."

Elisa had almost screamed in surprise when she had first heard her Captain on the phone and immediately scolded herself for the way she had acted. Hopefully Chavez would do exactly what she said she would and forget about it this time or else she could forget about anything like extra vacation time completely. In her rookie days she might have been tempted to start apologizing profusely for what she had said and how she had said it but decided that it was better to stick to business. Just ask the usual questions about a new assignment and get on it right away before she made any other snappy comments by accident that might cost her.

"What's up?" she asked in a much more alert and professional tone of voice as well as frame of mind.

"Homicide down at 123 Washington drive, bad one from what I have been given so far." , Chavez replied with some hesitance that told Maza that she was holding something back, "Pick up Bluestone and get down there ASAP, we've managed to keep the press from catching wind of this but I don't know how long we can keep it that way."

"Got it Captain we're on our way." Elisa replied as she hung up the phone and hurried to get dressed.

***********************************************************************

Approaching 123 Washington Drive, 9:05 a.m

"So did the Captain tell you anything more about this case then she did me?" Matt asked as he looked ahead for some sign that they had reached their destination.

"Not really other than the fact that it needs to be solved as soon as possible" , Elisa replied as she made a turn onto Washington Drive, "Though she did seem a bit disturbed and close mouthed about it, like 

something about it had upset her to the point where she didn't even want to think about it."

"Must be a pretty ugly murder to get the Captain worked up that much." Bluestone commented as they came to a stop at the back of the crowd of cop cars in front of 123 Washington drive.

"Well let's go in and take a look ourselves" , Elisa stated with more strength than she actually felt.

"Do we really have to?" Matt asked as he pointed to two beat cops who were currently emptying their stomachs into a storm drain.

Matt had felt on edge from the moment he had first heard the Captain's voice over the phone and now he was downright edgy. The scene was beginning to look hauntingly familiar to him and he didn't like it one bit, mostly because he couldn't for the life of him put a finger as to why it was familiar. He shook it off as merely a reaction to what appeared to be a gruesome murder and followed his partner as they 

approached the front of the police 'do not cross' tape. Already there were a few members of the press covering the barrier and all of them were asking questions to anyone who had a badge and looked as though they had been inside the building. That unfortunately was all too easy to deduce since many of the cops looked sick to their stomachs or had a frightened look glued on. Once they ducked under the barrier a police officer moved to stop them but fortunately they were quick to display their badges and superior rank.

"Detective Bluestone and Maza from the 23rd" , he introduced as both of them put their badges back in their pockets, "What's the situation so far?"

"W-well sir we've managed to keep the press back and we're basically just waiting for the medical examiner and you folks to get here" , the officer replied a bit shakily as he rattled off what he could, "Though personally sir if you plan on gin' in there I sincerely hope you haven't eaten recently."

"Why's that?" Elisa asked even though it was painfully obvious.

"Well everyone whose gone in there has either blown chunks in there or out here so I don't think you'll be much different" the officer replied with a note of certainty that Matt found disturbing.

"Well I think I speak for both my partner and I when I say that I think we can handle it" Elisa said she began walking towards the house.

As Matt began to follow he could barely hear the officer mumble "If you say so Detective."

As they walked towards the doors leading to the apartment building he found himself thankful that he hadn't had anything to eat for five hours or so. While he too had confidence in both he and his partner as far as the constitution went he was pretty certain that if over five cops had gotten sick over what was in there that he wasn't going to fare much better. He just hoped that Elisa's stomach was on the empty side as well 

or she might very well accidentally contaminate the crime scene with her puke. As they reached the stairs a man in a lab coat ran down and went immediately to an open trash can before bending over and retching. 

Normally this would have only mildly bothered him but the fact that the words 'assistant medical examiner' were written on the back of his lab coat made it different. Pushing that aside he tried to keep his mind 

objective and on the job at hand he followed Elisa into the building and up the stairs to the door of the apartment where things went down.

The moment he stepped into the apartment he immediately wished he hadn't.

All across the walls from left to right blood was dripping down to the floor, the trail ending with a headless body that was hung from a light fixture in the ceiling. The sight almost made him spew right there but luckily he managed to keep himself in check as he proceeded to examine the apartment to the best of his ability. From what he could tell there weren't any real signs of struggle that he could see which suggested that however the victim died it was probably quick. Walking over to the streak of blood on the wall he noticed that it looked more like a marker type streak rather than the splatter of blood caused by a gunshot or knife attack. Given the fact that the man was headless as well as the quick death factoid it appeared as though the murderer killed the man, chopped off his head and ran the neck across the walls until it ended at the light fixture. That immediately made the killer mentally insane by any standards and prone to gruesome killings rather than the clean ones of thieves or robbers.

Seeing that his partner was already talking to the forensic people over in the kitchen area he left his examination as it was and proceeded to walk over.

Though he hadn't caught the entire question he caught the end as Elisa asked ".....hair fibers or fingerprints?"

"No Detective, not so much as a single follicle or smudge." , the lab guy replied with as he packed his case up, "Whoever did this went to great lengths to keep himself unidentifiable by forensic methods."

Looking to the headless corpse hanging ten feet away Bluestone asked "Any clue as to what was used for the murder weapon?"

"Unfortunately things are not much better there either." , the lab guy replied as he looked at a page on his notepad, "It was a sharp blade roughly two to three inches in length and slightly curved but the 

puzzling thing is that a blade of that size should have left some small fragments where it cut into the bone."

"You mean there isn't?!" he said with a little bit of surprise showing in his voice.

"Not so much as a sliver Detective Bluestone and believe me I looked everywhere." the lab guy replied with certainty.

Just then it something occurred to him and he asked "Where's the head?"

To that the lab guy seemed to go white as a sheet as well as a little ill but all he did was point in the direction of the stove and then immediately ran for the door. Not seeing the full significance of this 

both he and Elisa walked towards the stove to see what had so badly shaken a person who saw and examined dead bodies for a living. Looking at the stove neither of them saw anything out of the ordinary, a large pot on a stove that was made in the last five years or so and quite clean, so without hesitation they continued foreword. Both of them looked at the stove and tried to find some clue as to what the medical examiner had wanted them to see with regards to the missing head. Then his eyes came back to the large pot that was resting on the stove burner with lid slightly ajar and immediately his stomach lurched at the possibility being presented to him right there. Looking to his partner and hoping that she would volunteer he was disappointed and so with great reluctance reached out to lid while mentally wishing that someone else was doing this. Gathering up the last bit of his courage he firmly grasped the lid's handle and lifted it off and soon after looked inside the pot.

He immediately wished he had never gotten out of bed that morning as well as received perfect justification to run out of the room to exhume his last meal.

There, apparently boiled for a period of time in it's own juices, was the head of one Mike Havender.

***********************************************************************

23rd Precient House, 10:15 a.m

"Ohhhh, I hope I never see anything like that again as long as I live!" Matt declared with a groan as he fought to keep his stomach steady.

"That makes two of us." Elisa said in agreement since her stomach wasn't much better at that moment.

Both of them had emptied their stomachs outside after they had seen what had happened to Mike Havender's head and had avoided any course of action that required them to go back into the victim's apartment. The initial examination of the crime scene was completed by ten and anything else they would have to wait for since it would take the lab boys a while to sift through. Now walking towards the Captain's office Elisa almost wished she could just forget about this case and go back to bed but sadly she had a job to do. Besides with what she had seen at the crime scene she doubted that she would be getting any sleep any time soon so as confidently as she could she stepped up to the door of the Captain's office and knocked.

"Come in." came the Captain's voice from the other side.

Opening the door both she and Matt Bluestone walked in and sat down in the chairs in front of the Captain's desk. At the moment Chavez was looking over some police report and was not paying either her or Matt much attention which for the moment she didn't mind since it bought her stomach some time to ease up. Taking a moment to look around the room she saw several other files strewn about on shelves and in boxes causing her to wonder just what it was the Captain was doing. Looking back to Maria Elisa watched as Chavez closed the folder and place it inside her desk, she made a mental note of which drawer the file had gone into. It was probably nothing but if the Captain did know more than she was telling 

that folder may hold a piece of the puzzle. With the Chavez's gaze now on her she shifted back into cop mode and prepared to rattle off the facts of the case, hoping that remembering those things weren't going to upset her stomach like the real deal had. 

"So Detectives, what exactly do we have on our hands here?" Captain Chavez asked with professional interest and seemingly something extra.

"Basically Cap we have one nasty sicko on our hands" , Elisa replied with a frown as she recalled the facts, "I don't think there's a cop on the force that wouldn't be putting their constitution to the test by looking at that crime scene.

"That bad huh?" Chavez asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, according to the forensic team the perp used a blade weapon no longer than three inches long and basically kept slicing until the victim's head came off." , Matt replied as he rattled off the facts 

written on his notepad, "Exact time of death is uncertain but judging by the condition of the body it is fairly obvious that it was not a .... quick end."

"Witnesses?" Chavez asked in an effort to change the topic.

"None, the victim was discovered about 7:30 a.m when the landlord came up to tell Mr. Havender to turn down his stereo system." , Elisa replied as she recalled what the portly man said when asked about the victim, "Also it seemed that Mike Havender was heavy into drugs, particularly stimulants, since just about anywhere in the room you could see a bag or bottle of it around."

"One of his dealers getting mad at him?" asked the Captain.

"Possible but not likely. According to his neighbors he was a pretty normal average teen up until six days ago." , Matt stated as he turned the page on his pad, "Had a job at a local electronics store but wound up being fired two days ago when his employer caught him popping some drugs into his mouth."

"Same thing from his neighbors, they never had any trouble with him up until recently and then it was only his unsettling appearance." , Elisa commented as she called on her photographic memory, "According to an elderly woman across the hall he had apparently been going without sleep for several days."

"What?" Chavez asked as her eyes seemed to widen in shock for a moment before settling back down into their normal calm look.

Filing that away as yet another anomaly Elisa replied "According to the examiner there were also several burns that seem to have been self-inflicted and when you add the drugs as well as the loud music it 

becomes obvious that this guy did not want to fall asleep."

This seemed to only increase the tension on the Captain's face and led Elisa to wonder just what her supervisor knew about all of this but most of all why was she keeping it a secret. She had known the Captain from the moment she had been posted at the prescient, had seen her rise through the ranks a bit until she became the prescient Captain but had never quite seen her react like this. She was being reluctant, almost secretive about just how much she knew about this case and how she felt about it. That concerned Elisa because for as long as they had known each other they had been pretty honest with each other. Still for all she knew there could be nothing wrong and Maria could simply be trying herself to piece together 

the parts of this mystery. After all she and Matt were currently trying to piece things together and weren't feeling at all calm about it so maybe Chavez was feeling likewise.

"I'm gonna check on a few sources I have back at the Bureau to see if anything similar has happened elsewhere." Matt stated as he placed his notepad back into his trenchcoat pocket.

"As for me I'm gonna check around town to check on the usual snitches and low level scum bags to see if they've heard anything" Elisa declared as she got out of her seat and began to move towards the door.

"Just try to keep this low profile detectives, I don't want this getting out to the press." warned the Captain as she fixed two of her finest with a serious stare.

"Sure thing Cap!" Bluestone yelled as the door swung shut.

**********************************************************************

It was starting again!

She thought that she had finally gotten rid of it years ago when she had left Springwood behind with all the things associated with it. She may not have actually experienced what had been going on there but she had heard the stories and she was pretty sure she could trust the sources. It was pretty unbelievable but all had taken was hearing the stories about the mutilated teenage bodies and the word 'nightmares' for her to pack up her things and leave. No matter the assurances by relatives who lived there or the ridicule of friends who taunted her because they thought that they thought she was acting like a child. In a way she felt ashamed by what she had done, deserting them just to save her own hide, part of her wished she had stayed and stood with them in those final hours. 

Unfortunately she had been too afraid to stay.

Now it was starting again, here in this new life she had made for herself, leaving her to make the same choice she had been asked to make years ago.

What could she do?

***********************************************************************

Central Park, Belvadere Castle, Noon

Despite what had happened earlier in the day the park still seemed peaceful and normal(well as peaceful as things can get with the odd mugger). You could hardly tell that a meeting was about to take place between two members of a super secret society that had existed for untold centuries. You certainly couldn't tell that the man sitting on the park bench across from the lake was one of them, he looked perfectly normal. Then again that was one of the things that the Illuminati prided itself on, being able to move around undetected and unnoticed while so called 'professionals' were easily spotted by those with the eyes for it. Looking at the man in the suit and trenchcoat you would just think that the young red haired guy was a business executive spending a portion of his lunch break in the park. In truth he was waiting for his one contact in the Illuminati to show up.

C'mon Hacker! You said you'd be here at noon! Bluestone thought to himself as he casually scanned the passerby's for a sign of his former partner.

Fifteen minutes passed with nothing to show for it and he was just about ready to leave when the sound of footsteps alerted him that someone was coming up behind him. Smiling he knew instantly who it was so now all that was left was to decide what he would do to greet this previously undetected person. Should it be something theatric like getting up and spinning around to face his unwanted shadow or should it be something a little more subtle. 

Finally he decided and without moving a muscle he said "Took you long enough."

"Had to make sure that no one else was watching us." a man's voice stated as he came closer.

"Oh c'mon Hacker, you don't seriously think that I'd hire someone to spy on our little meeting do you?" asked Bluestone sarcastically as he looked up to see his partner in the tweed hat standing next to him.

"Can't be too careful these days Matthew, especially in our line of work." , Martin replied as he casually took a seat next to his ex-partner, "So what did you drag me down here to the park for? Not that 

I mind but the higher ups tend to frown on unnecessarily long lunch breaks."

"Just got handed a new case this morning and was wondering what you knew about it?" Matt said as he carefully prepared how he was going to lay down the facts.

"Depends on what type of case it is." Hacker said vaguely as he carefully looked around the park.

"Homicide, bloody one too. Decapitation, blood smeared on the walls in an unusual way and victim's head being boiled on the stove." Bluestone declared with a look that showed that he was still trying to get the image out of his mind.

"So? This world is full of kooks that like to cut people up!" Agent Hacker exclaimed making it clear he was beginning to think it was a waste of time coming here.

"Yeah well what kind of kook leaves no signs of entry or exit, no fingerprints, no fibers, no traceable item at all and can finish his job without alerting the victim's neighbors?" Matt asked with confidence that 

for once he had the info rather than Hacker.

"Most likely a pro with some military background and a serious headcase" , Hacker replied with growing patience and interest, "As for the neighbors not hearing maybe be simply tranqed the victim before cutting him up."

"Not likely seeing as this victim kept himself pumped up on stimulants for almost a week." , Bluestone stated with a hidden smile as he saw Martin's expression, "His apartment was littered with pills and medications designed to keep him alert and awake so it would have to be a tranquilizer dart with enough sedative to take down a rhino for it to work."

At that it was clear that Hacker was stumped as far as a response went and his irritation at being called down here was almost gone.

"The reason I called you is because this case reminded me of something I heard about during my early days in the Bureau." , Matt stated as he watched Agent Hacker's expressions carefully, "Something about extreme sleep deprivation in teens and some sort of slasher killer."

The moment that Matt had mentioned 'Sleep Deprivation' Hacker seemed to pale slightly and suddenly became very interested in his hat once he took it off. This automatically set off a multitude of alarm bells in 

Bluestone's mind and far more than he expected he would be hearing during this conversation with Hacker. Finally it seemed as though Martin had managed to regain his composure somewhat, even though a slightly haunted look remained in his eyes.

"I-I am afraid I'll have to get back to you on that Matthew." , Hacker said with a slight stutter as he got up from the bench and quickly put his hat back on, "Still if you want my advice I think you should follow 

the victim's lead for the next little while."

Before Bluestone could say anything Hacker immediately strode away and eventually disappeared from sight leaving one puzzled and more than a little worried former F.B.I agent. After all this was the man who was a regular errand boy for the most secretive and unknown society ever to exist in the history of mankind, a job which surely exposed him to unusual and even painful things. To see Hacker go white as a sheet at the mention of a common medical problem seemed downright laughable and yet he had seen it with his own eyes. That of course led him to the most obvious question crawling around in his mind and he was pretty sure his current partner was asking herself the same thing.

What does this all mean?

***********************************************************************

23rd Prescient, Squad Room, 2:15 p.m.

Two and a half hours of grilling every street punk, snitch and low level gangster that I know of and I have zip to show for it! Elisa thought as she entered the squad room and headed over to her desk.

Looking over at Matt's desk she could see that he was already working on his end of the case with a vengeance by working on the computer. She couldn't exactly see what was on the screen but she bet that it was probably some crime report with him trying to find an M.O match with their perp. Funny thing was she doubted that he would find anything, after all she had been working around here for close to ten years and she had never heard of anything as horrifying as this case. As she got closer though she could see that the screen was definitely not displaying a case file or criminal record. She deduced this through various means, the way Bluestone's eyes seemed to be glued to the screen, the rapid scrolling down with the mouse and the fact that there were several colors were present on the screen that wouldn't be caught dead on an official police document. Moving past her desk she moved around to see just what was intriguing her partner so much and she was disappointedly accurate in her deduction because on the screen was a search engine. Then down below the search engine's emblem was a list of possibilities with percentages next to them ranging from 67% all the way to 75%.

"Matt I doubt the killer has his own web page and is going to post his list of victims on his bulletin board" Elisa said sarcastically as she casually scanned the list of links.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, very funny Elisa! I'm trying to find some newspaper columns with similar stories about slasher killers" , Matt replied with a slight grin of humor as he continued to scroll down, "and in particular small town newspapers. I'm sure there was a string of murders just like this one in some small town somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember what the town was called."

"Did you find anything out from your sources back at the bureau?" she asked as Matt clicked on a link.

"Not exactly. I had a meeting with my old partner Hacker but he wasn't much help in terms of answers but the look he had on his face was enough to worry me." Matt replied with his eyes never leaving the screen.

"What do you mean?" she asked with curiosity.

"I told him the basic facts about the case but the minute he heard about the extreme sleep deprivation he got a pit pale and had that strange look in his eyes." Matt replied as he frowned at a disappointing link.

"You think maybe he knew something?" Elisa asked with eyebrow raised as she considered what her partner had just pointed out.

"Possibly but whatever it is I doubt that we'll be able to force anything out of him, he spends most of his time probably keeping secrets just like this one out of the hands of normal folk just like us" Matt 

replied with a slight grin as his U.F.O fixated mind tried to picture Hacker in that 'Men In Black' movie.

"Maybe I can get something more out of Xanatos tonight when I go to see the guys, he tends to be more lenient when it comes to information." she said with a smile on her face that made it clear that her method of asking was going to be sneaky.

"In other words you're goin' to lay the guilt trip on him about owing the clan?" Bluestone asked knowingly with a sly smile that stated he already knew the answer.

"Of course." , Elisa said quite plainly as if it were the most normal and common thing for her to do, "I'm also going to ask the guys if they would keep an eye on the area where Havender was killed, just in case the killer decides to kill someone else in that neighborhood."

"Good idea. Tomorrow I'll check with some of Mike's friends and see if they knew of anyone who might have a reason to kill him like this." stated Matt as he continued to flip through the sites displayed on the screen.

Suddenly the phone on his desk rang and with a casual extension of his arm he picked up the reciever and said "Bluestone."

"Detective? This is Dr. Sato down in forensics, I've just finished the autopsy on the victim Mike Havender and I found something rather interesting." stated the voice of the good doctor over the phone.

"Like what?" Bluestone asked as he shifted his attention away from the computer screen.

"Well, I'd rather not say anything over the phone, you never know which member of the press might be listening in." , Dr. Sato replied with caution, "Besides you'll have to see the results yourself to believe 

them."

"Alright, Maza and I will be down in a few minutes. Goodbye." Bluestone stated with curiosity as he hung up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Elisa asked as she looked at Matt's thoughtful expression with a puzzled one of her own.

"That was Doc Sato down in forensics. He said he had something interesting about Havender's autopsy to show us but refused to disclose any details over the phone." , Matt replied as he shut down the computer 

and grabbed his trenchcoat, "Asked us to come down there and see for ourselves what he found."

"Well then lets go and see what the good doctor has to show us." declared Elisa as she turned and started heading to the lab.

***********************************************************************

23rd Prescient, Forensics' Lab, 2:40 p.m.

"Okay Dr. Sato, what do you have for us?" asked Matt as he followed Elisa into the bastion of forensic medicine that was the 23rd Precient's Lab.

"Well when the body had been brought in I had gone straight ahead and began the autopsy." , Doc Sato said as he guided them over to the examination table in the center of the room, "As you know that entails finding out how the subject died, when he died, what drugs were in his system and so on. I was able to narrow down the time of death to roughly 2:15 a.m. but when I tried to find what weapon was used I came upon something rather startling."

Once they reached the examination table Doctor Sato carefully drew back the sheet that was draped over the body, just enough to expose the neck. Elisa reflexively looked away from the gore on the table but forced herself to look back since Sato's findings could prove crucial. In truth she didn't know the Doc all that well, aside from a few odd trips down to the lab during her career the closest she had gotten to meeting him was seeing his signature on the lab reports. Looking at him now she immediately pictured him as being a grandfather, with his glasses and sparse cropping of white hair he fit the image perfectly. From what she 

could remember he had been with the prescient for almost twenty-five years and roughly thirteen as head of the forensics department. Some of the beat cops would make wise cracks about how he seldom left the lab and how behind in the times he was but she had never really found such jokes funny.

"As you can see here on what's left of the spinal column there are several grooves in the bone area showing that the killer hacked at this area numerous times before the head was finally severed." , Doctor Sato explained as he indicated with his pen the grooves in the bone, "As you saw in my initial report the weapon was perhaps five inches or so in length and curved like a hawk's talon. The interesting part is when I tried to obtain the trace samples of the blade from the wound itself."

"What did you find?" Elisa asked as she looked at the doctor thankfully rather than at the corpse.

"Absolutely nothing." replied Sato with a slight smile that said he was enjoying seeing the looks on their faces.

"What!?" exclaimed Matt who looked like a movie gore that had just been told the shocker ending to a movie.

"I found not a single microscopic sliver of metal anywhere in or around the neck area." , Sato replied as he passed them and went to the computer sitting on a table next to the wall, "I went all the way up to 

magnification 1200 and found not a trace of any debris that might have been left by the murder weapon."

"Is it possible that the murder weapon simply left no fragments behind?" , Elisa asked with skepticism as she imagined what Matt was probably thinking, "I mean what your implying his that somehow the victim was decapitated by the air or something just as nuts."

"I know how you feel Detective Maza but I am telling you the truth." , Sato replied as he left the computer and stood face to face with her, "As for your first question I would say that it is impossible for a bladed weapon to do this kind of damage and not leave some trace of itself behind. As for what this means I haven't the foggiest idea, I can honestly say that I haven't come across anything like this in all my years as a forensic specialist."

That didn't make Elisa any happier but it was enough for her to stop badgering the Doctor about his findings. A million thoughts swirled around her mind as she tried to figure out what this meant for her and 

the millions of other people in this city. A killer who left no traceable sign of his presence lying around, a weapon that was sharp enough to severe a human head from it's body and the fact that they also had no 

idea who or what this killer was. What really concerned her was the fact that this case was leaning towards the paranormal or magical as far as it's origins went and that meant trouble for everyone including the clan. 

Filing these thoughts away for when she met with Goliath tonight she returned her attention to Doctor Sato.

"You find anything else out about the victim, anything unusual?" she asked with calm curiosity.

"You mean aside from the extreme sleep deprivation, the burns on his arms and the fact that he was filled with enough stimulants to keep the average human awake for 24 hours?" , Dr. Sato asked as he tried to inject some humor into these mundane proceedings, "Well the only thing that did catch my eye a bit was the surprising absence of residual electrical activity in the body. Even after death the body's nervous system does give off slight surges of neurons and electrons for hours after the patient has already passed on. When I examined Mike Havender's body there wasn't enough of an electrical charge to make a pen light work."

That only set off even more warning bells in her head and she was pretty sure that the same was happening in Matt's head. This entire case was taking a serious turn for the wacky and she did not like it one little bit. Hopefully when she related the facts to the clan Goliath or Hudson might be able to shed some light on the subject. After all if this was some sort of supernatural killer who better to ask about it then beings who up until a little while ago were considered to be myths themselves. Add that to the fact they had the trickster Puck with them and hopefully they could put the skidds on this sicko's reign of terror before too many people wound up like poor Mike Havender.

"Well thanks for the facts Dr. Sato. If you find anything else out be sure to give us a call." said Matt as he interpreted Elisa's silence as their cue to leave.

"I most certainly will Detectives and I wish you luck in catching this depraved soul." Dr. Sato declared as he watched both Detectives walk out of the room.

Once they were out of hearing distance from the lab Matt asked "Well partner, you want to tell me what's cooking in that head of yours or do I have to guess?"

"I was just thinking that this is turning out to be an even weirder case then I thought it would be." , Elisa replied as she looked ahead to the approaching stairs, "I just hope that the guys will know something more than we do or more people are going to wind up like Mike Havender."

***********************************************************************


	2. Who is he?

"A Nightmare to Remember" Chapter 2

By Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

Email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

Castle Wyvern, One Minute Before Sunset

Elisa paced back and forth behind the stone form that would come to life in a few moments and tried to collect the facts she had so far been able to collect so far that day. Mike Havender had been brutally murdered by person or persons unknown and died at roughly 2:15 a.m, presumably by decapitation. The murderer or murderers left not so much as a hair behind to even identify the person's sex or race and seemed to be into gore big time. No trace of the murder weapon could be found in the body of the victim leaving them with only a vague idea of what to look for in a suspect. Add that to the extreme sleep deprivation in the victim and lack of residual electrical activity in the nervous system and she had a heck of a case. Just then she heard the familiar sound that all too often greeted her when she came to the castle around this time. Slowly but surely cracks spider-webbed across the stone form of Goliath and then with a mighty roar the leader of Clan Wyvern awoke from his stone hibernation.

Turning around his eyes lit up as he saw her there and within seconds Elisa found herself in a bearhug at the hands of the lavender giant.

"Elisa, it is good to see you." Goliath said as he put her down on the ground.

"*Yawn* Yeah it's good to see you too Big Guy." Elisa said as she covered a rather large yawn.

For the past four hours she had begun to feel the burn as it were and hoped that she could get home to bed. After all she would be of no help in the investigation if she could barely keep her eyes open on the job. 

Focusing back on her conversation with Goliath she could see that he had that concerned 'what-is-the-matter' look and almost wished she hadn't yawned right then and there. Ever since that confrontation with the Hunters a few months ago Goliath had been growing more and more protective of her. In a way it was nice to have a 'Guardian Angel' to watch out for her but lately his overprotectiveness had been getting a little annoying. Fortunately he was going to get what he wanted tonight because as soon as she had briefed them on the case she was going straight home to bed.

"Elisa are you alright?" Goliath asked as other members of the clan climbed up the side of the tower to join them.

"Yeah, aside from the fact I didn't sleep much more than an hour or two since last night, I'm fine." , she replied a bit too sharply as she started the briefing, "Captain Chavez assigned Matt and I to a new case today and it was urgent enough to warrant her calling me back to work for the day."

"What's up?" asked Brooklyn as he stood next to Goliath.

"There was a particularly brutal murder at 123 Washington Dr. early this morning, victim was decapitated which presumably was the cause of death." , replied Elisa as she tried to summarize the facts, "The thing that makes this case ugly is the killer's M.O, basically the killer cut of the victim's then rubbed the wound in a random pattern on the wall before hanging it from a light fixture. From the pattern of blood we assume that the killer is pretty strong seeing as how the trail of blood goes up the wall and to the ceiling without missing a beat."

She looked around and could already see that the clan had committed itself to catching this creep.

"The gruesomest part however was the fact that the head was found in a pot on the stove boiling in it's own juices which means this killer has a thing for gore." Elisa explained as she finished her explanation of the crime and waited to see what the clan would say.

"Do you have any idea who is responsible for this murder?" asked 

Goliath in a tone that did nothing to hide his disgust at the picture she had painted.

"Unfortunately that's the biggest problem so far, the forensic team that looked the place over found no signs of struggle, forced entry and nothing that didn't belong in the apartment." , she replied with frustration and a but of worry, "Whoever did this is very good at not leaving anything lying around that we could use but the thing that really worries me was the fact that we have almost nothing concerning the murder weapon. Aside from the fact that the blade is roughly five inches long and curved like a hawk's talon we have nothing."

"What do you mean?" Goliath asked with growing concern.

"According to the head Forensic examiner there were no trace slivers in either the tissue or the bones around the wound." , Elisa explained as she frowned in puzzlement at the information she was relating, "Which is almost impossible but apparently this creep found a way to do it. I was just hoping that you guys could patrol around the neighborhood where the murder took place, just in case this sicko tried something again."

"Do not worry, Brooklyn and I will patrol that area tonight and inform you of anything we discover." Goliath replied as he made his way to the edge of the turret.

"Thanks. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna have a quick word with Xanatos and then I am going to bed." , Elisa declared before yawning once more, "I need to bag some major Zs if I'm going to be able to snag this killer."

"Sleep well then Elisa." Goliath said and with that he and the entire clan jumped into the air and glided away on their designated patrol routes.

She watched them for a while until they were no more than dots on the horizon and then turned towards the stairs to begin her long trek to Xanatos' office.

**********************************************************************

Xanatos' Office, Castle Wyvern, 6:15 p.m.

"Knock, knock, knock!" came the sound from across Xanatos' office in the direction of the door.

With a flick of a switch Xanatos switched off the video monitor in the wall that had just moments before had been showing him a recording of Detective Maza's conversation with the clan. It was indeed a horrifying dilemma but at the same time it was also intriguing, after all a person who could kill and leave nothing for the police to work with would be quite valuable to the right people. Unfortunately it was difficult when you knew nothing of the killer including his motivations for doing what he did, after all everyone needed something. At the moment he assumed that the Detective needed his assistance to try and identify her quarry using his unique sources. After all he had been in this city for quite a while and had managed to pull quite a few capers off right under the NYPD's nose. Thus it was only reasonable to assume that he would be able to dig more information out of the city than a normal but exceptionally talented Detective might.

"Come in detective." he said casually as he turned to face the entrance to the office.

Coming in he could see that the Detective was indeed almost dead on her feet and in obvious need for sleep. Keeping that in mind he decided to try and keep this impromptu meeting brief and to the point. When she finally reached the desk he was surprised to see her look at him, then the viewscreen mounted on the wall and then back at him before smiling knowingly. He returned that smile with a pinch of admiration along with it, apparently the Detective was picking up on his habits. Not that it was at all surprising considering the fact that she had almost four years experience with him. So instead of waiting for her to come out and ask him for assistance he decided to beat her to the punch.

"It would seem that you in a bit of a rut Detective." , he commented neutrally, "I'll see what my people can dig up and inform you if I find out anything."

"Actually I was going to ask if you check into an old F.B.I case that might have some relevance." , Elisa stated as she seemingly fought to stay alert, "According to Matt there were a few homicides a few years back that involved a slashing spree in a small town that was a accompanied by a large number of teens avoiding sleep like the plague."

"Wouldn't that question be more appropriate for Detective Bluestone to ask his ex-partner about?" Xanatos asked carefully as he tried to deduce why Maza would come to him with this request.

"Matt tried but Hacker seemed to dodge the question and left a minute or two later." Elisa replied as she seemed to be studying Xanatos' face.

"Then maybe it is something too heavily classified by the club that Agent Hacker and I belong to." , stated Xanatos as his interest in the case continued to increase, "After all Detective, while Agent Hacker and I have some influence there some things are even out of our reach."

"I don't think that it had anything really to do with files being classified Xanatos." , Elisa declared as she remembered what Matt had told her, "From what Matt said it sounded like Hacker was simply afraid of what this case implied. It was as if he suspected he knew who was behind this murder but was praying that he was wrong."

This caused a flower of fear to begin to grow in the pit of Xanatos' stomach, a flower that was bound to grow in size before this dilemma was over. He had met Agent Hacker a few times at society gatherings and saw the man as being one not easily frightened. After all he was probably in on a great deal of things and had seen many things that an average man would have ran from. To hear that this case may involve someone who could shake that calm resolve did not do anything to ease his concerns. This was definitely something he was going to have to personally look into himself and look into soon. The Illuminati society only involved itself in the special problems, occurrences and dangers that tended to crop up from time to time which probably meant trouble for Manhattan. Looking at the detective he put his best poker face on and returned the focus to the conversation at hand.

"That would seem to indicate that something is most definitely rotten in the big apple wouldn't it detective." , he commented as he got up from his chair and turned to look out the window, "I'll see what I can find out for you."

"Thanks" Elisa replied with a tired voice.

Just before Elisa was out the door Xanatos said "Have pleasant dreams Detective."

**********************************************************************

8:15 p.m.

Looking around Elisa remembered this scene well and felt perfectly at ease with what she saw.

It was the night after she had met Goliath and they were both trying to keep themselves from getting caught by Xanatos' goon squad. It had not been one of her more pleasant moments, especially when the dawn depraved her of a seven foot mound of muscle. Looking back at Goliath's stone form she knew that she had to draw the four armed persons away from her friend's stone form and then pick them off one by one. Waiting until they were close enough she dashed out onto the path in front of the goon squad and then tore off towards the 'Alice in Wonderland' area. She grinned to herself as she heard the sound of four separate pairs of boots running not far behind her and slowly gaining. Fortunately she had a better idea of the layout of the immediate area which meant that she knew what to jump over and what was on the other side. Eventually she found herself in the center of the collection of tables and quickly ducked down behind one of the tables. Quietly, carefully she waited for her pursuers to catch up with her but surprisingly all was quiet around her. Confused as this scenario was taking a decidedly different turn she slowly peeked her head over the top of the table in the direction that the good squad would be coming.

Nothing.

Not a single one of them. she thought to herself grimly as she stood straight up.

Slowly she proceeded in the direction she had come, perhaps the goon squad had lost her and was wondering around aimlessly. As she exited the area where the table was and began to follow the path back towards Goliath she wondered what was going on. Some part of her mind told her that this was a dream but the ideas for the dream came from her and she doubted that she would alter a past memory like this. Walking forward she knew she was getting dangerously close to the spot where Goliath was resting in his stone sleep and she prayed she wouldn't find a pile of gravel there. Then almost out of nowhere she began to hear what sounded like children singing, young children from the sound of things. Her concern jumping up a notch she ran in search of the children, there was no telling what the goon squad would do about witnesses. Running down the path she took a left then a right and then just as she was making another right she found them.

There, playing jump rope, were three girls dressed in frilly white dresses right out in the open as if they were oblivious to all but themselves. For a moment she almost mistook them for triplets since they all had the same curly brown hair but when she saw their faces she knew that was not the case. In a way they seemed more out of place then simply being in her dream, they looked as though they came straight from an episode of 'Leave it to Beaver'. After all even at the age of ten, which was what she guessed was the average age of the three girls, most girls wouldn't be caught dead wearing something so 'cute'. As she approached them the jump rope rhyme they were singing slowly grew louder until she could no longer ignore it.

"One...two...Freddy's coming for you" , they chanted in unison as the one in the middle jumped, "Three...four...better lock your door."

For some reason this rhyme was getting her on edge, this wasn't looking like the type of rhyme that kids that age from the fifties should be singing. What happened to the rhymes with candy and friends along with a rhyme to help them remember their mathematics? Listening to the girls singing she patiently waited in the hopes that the girls' rhyme would change to nicer topics.

"Five...six...grab your crucifix" , they chanted as they seemed to slow down as far as their actions went, "Seven...eight...better stay up late."

Unfortunately her wishes seemed to go unheard as the three little girls continued their little game and her unease also continued but it was slowly getting bigger. Remembering why she had come after these girls she briskly walked up to the closer one with the intent of telling them to stop playing and go home. The girls didn't move an inch in surprise at her approach or even seem to see her at all for that matter. Quickly she grabbed the child in front of her and with surprising roughness turned the blonde girl to face her. The child made no sign that she even noticed what had happened but instead simply finished the rhyme that she and her friends had been singing a moment ago

"Nine...ten...he's at it again."

**********************************************************************

Elisa's Apartment, 12:15 Am.

Elisa woke with a start as she looked around the familiar dark bedroom as the few drops of sweat trickled down her back.

It had seemed so real! she thought to herself as she looked around her bedroom, as if expected something to jump out at her.

Almost as an added reassurance she reached over and switched on the lamp on her bedside table, basking in the comforting brilliance it bestowed upon her. Finding herself still a bit unsettled by the nightmare she left the bedroom and made her way to the kitchen, hoping that some warm drink would soothe her nerves. In a way her reaction to the dream puzzled her, she was rarely so disturbed by them that she would break out in a sweat. 

After all she had seen, done and heard of many things that were far more awesome than anything her subconscious could cook up. So why was this nightmare defiantly standing out apart from the rest, why did she still feel the icy grip of fear when she thought about what she had seen. Most of all though why did she still remember that rhyme that the three girls in her nightmare had been singing?

It's just the case Maza! , she thought scornfully to herself, 

Seeing that mutilated body would give anyone nightmares.

Still if that was the case shouldn't her nightmares be about more violent things than girls playing jump rope. After all she remembered what she had been dreaming about for almost a week after the incident at the dam with the three Hunters. It was the same scene over and over again, Goliath and Jason squaring off on top of the dam followed by her getting in their way and eventually falling off. Each time she remembered wishing for the same thing, that Goliath would reach her in time and catch her like he had on numerous other occasions. The dreams eventually faded away as her mind put what she had gone through in the proper portions of her mind. She could only hope that the same would hold true for this bizarre muse of the three girls playing jump rope and singing a rhyme better left to psychos.

After pouring a cup of warm milk Elisa walked over to the couch and sat down, trying to relax herself enough to go back to sleep. It would probably take only half an hour or so to calm down and then she could catch what few Zzzs she could get before resuming the case in the morning. She hoped that talking to Mike Havender's friends and employer might give them a lead on who might have wanted him dead or it would take longer than they had to catch the perp. After all if he followed the same M.O and drive a kid to stay awake for a week then they had perhaps eight days tops before the next victim became known. Grabbing a notepad from the drawer on the back of the coffee table she began mentally ticking off possible motives and possible classifications for the killer's mind. It would keep her mind off the dream she had and on top of the more important things such as doing her duty to the city.

This went on for roughly an hour before her eyes began to tell her in their own special way that it was time to hit the sack. It was one-thirty in the morning and she had to be at the prescient by nine which meant if she fell asleep soon she might be able to get another six hours sleep.

As she got up and began to walk towards her bedroom she found herself dusted with bits of reluctance, a wish for any excuse to stay awake. Shaking her head in displeasure at herself she walked into the room with the courage and determination that had made her who she was.

The question was would she remain that way?

***********************************************************************

1:45 Am.

She took another long drag from her cup of coffee and continued to listen to her chosen music, the one that had been so effective the last time he had come after her. She had been at it ever since she had gotten home to her apartment and was managing just fine against the rigors of sleep. It would be no problem to stay awake until morning when she would have to go to work once more and put up a brave casual front for her fellow members of the work force. She couldn't let them suspect that anything was wrong or they might try to find out what it was and then the truth would come out. After that it wouldn't be long before she would be fingered for the murder just like Dan had been when this had all started in back then. After all even the most rookie of cops could do a little research, find out about the Springwood Slasher and then see where she had come from. The fact that the murders had continued in Springwood after she left might throw them off for a bit but they would just assume that those that happened afterwards were done by a copycat. Unfortunately that wasn't even her primary worry, the thing that occupied the bulk of her thoughts was how he had gotten to Manhattan.

He should have been restricted to Elm Street back in Springwood! she thought furiously to herself as she tried to make sense of this anomaly.

***********************************************************************

223 Wilmore Avenue , 8:45 Am.

I wonder where Elisa is? Matt Bluestone thought to himself as he looked up and down the busy street for the familiar sight of the red Fairlane.

He had been waiting outside his apartment building for fifteen minutes and was starting to become concerned. Almost since the moment they had become partners Elisa had always been the one to pick him up on their way to work. She had actually only been required to drive since the piece of junk he had called his car broke down beyond repair. Elisa wasn't to-the-second punctual but she was rarely more than ten minutes late even in deep traffic which was the usual during the morning. The only time he recalled her being longer had been a day or two after the whole Hunter incident when she had shown up in a rental because her car was in the shop getting the hood repaired. When he had asked her what had happened she just said something about shooting first next time some punks were stealing from Xanatos' warehouses. 

Looking back and forth one last time he considered going back to his room and phoning Elisa to see what the hold up was when he finally saw the cherry red top of her car. Smiling at the fact that he wouldn't have to wake his partner up via the phone he got up from the steps leading to the entrance to the building and walked to the curb. Once the car had come to a stop he casually opened the passenger side door and slid into the passenger seat only to find that her timing wasn't the only thing that was off for Elisa. Looking at her now the casual passerby might not see anything wrong with her but to her partner who had seen her almost everytime he went on shift he saw it right away. It looked like she hadn't slept all that well the previous night and had only gotten two thirds or so of the minimum requirement of sleep. For a moment he thought something might have been up but then he remembered the case they were working on together and dismissed his earlier notion.

"Rough night partner?" he asked casually as they pulled out into traffic.

"Kinda, had this weird dream that was giving me the wiggins all night." Elisa replied as she focused on driving.

"Yeah? What about?" Bluestone asked with curiosity associated with a hobby which he did indeed have.

"It started out as a replay of that night Goliath and I had in the park when Xanatos' goons tried to put a bullet into each of us." , Elisa replied with a slight cringe as she went over the events in her head, "The strange thing is that it changed halfway through, just as I am about to kick some XCG butt they disappear and when I go to find them I find three girls playing jump rope singing the weirdest rhyme."

"Hmmm, other young women dream of Fabio and Antonio Banderas but given that your boyfriend is a seven foot gargoyle I suppose it isn't that much of a stretch." Matt joked as smiled at her.

"He isn't my boyfriend and as for dreaming about Adonis bodied men I prefer my beau to be just as equipped in the head as anywhere else." she replied with a sneer as she changed lanes.

"Well then I guess that rules out any Calvin Klein models and most of the male acting population." , Matt declared as he decided to change the subject, "So, do you think that Mike's friends will know anything more about his death than we do?"

"Given that he seemed pretty well liked by the other tenants in his apartment building I don't think they had any reason to kill." , Elisa replied as she hanged a left, "That would leave friends and co-workers as potential suspects. I think we should split up to question them, I'll take the friends and you take the co-workers."

"Oh joy! Leave me to face another disgruntled member of the work force!" Matt said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh c'mon! It won't be that bad Matt!" , Elisa moaned as she took a brief look at her partner, "Besides it could just as easily be one of his friends that did this."

"Maybe but given that my trust in the U.S Postal Service has been severely hurt I am not willing to take chances with an electronics store" Matt replied humorously as he returned his partner's look.

"If it makes you feel any better the guy who apparently runs the store is an old man and most of the employees are pimple faced teenagers." Elisa stated with her patented half smirk smile.

"Great! Which means I'll either get my pocket picked or get sued for something" Matt replied with a smile of his own.

That did it. thought Matt as Elisa began to laugh heartily.

Though he didn't advertise it he had been trying for the last few moments to lighten the mood a bit before they delved into the world of serial killers. He hadn't said anything but he was hoping that this was a simple sicko who just got lucky rather than what his mind was pointing him at. So far he hadn't gotten any closer to nailing down the name of the town that he believed this may have happened in before. He had tried everything he could think of and the lack of results he was receiving in return were beginning to bother him. After all one would think something weird enough to get caught in his mind would be easier to find in the newspaper files or on the net. Either he was mistaken about this type of murder happening somewhere else or he just had to dig a bit harder. 

Looking up he saw that they had finally arrived at the electronics store that Mike Havender had worked up prior to him being fired. It didn't look like any of the chain stores like 'Sam the Record Man' or anything like that but rather a privately owned one named 'Logan's Electronics'. Smiling a bit at the difference he got out of the car and waved goodbye to Elisa as she drove away to question Havender's friends at NYU.

Taking a deep breath Matt stepped into the electronics store and immediately disassociated it with any of the richer chains that one would frequently see in Malls and the like. All about him on wooden shelves and on wooden tables were the common variety of stereos and TVs but the thing that stuck out were the bristle board and marker signs. There was nothing about them that said 'big business' and neither did the rest of the store which was a bit comforting in the sense that it meant the owner would likely be honest. Slowly walking towards the cashier's counter he tried to imagine what Mike Havender's last days here might have been like. According to what they had learned so far Mike had been fired for popping pills, most likely stimulants, which had caused the owner to fire him. Given the age of the owner Havender must have been pretty out of it to allow an old man to sneak up on him and catch him red handed.

Finally he reached the cashier's counter and he asked "Could I please speak to the manager?"

Unfortunately the cashier was a punk looking teen who seemed born to give 'tude which was proven when he asked "Who wants to know?"

Sighing Matt knew he could probably, eventually, get the manager out front here to ask questions but by that time he may be ready to shoot this kid. So instead he did something to expedite things a bit and pulled out his badge and identification so as to show the teen what as well as who he was dealing with.

"Detective Matthew Bluestone, 23rd priecent, NYPD." , Matt replied as he put the badge right in the kid's face, "Now would you please go get the manager? I have a few questions I'd like to ask him."

Thankfully that got him results as the kid ran from the counter to the door leading to the back store room where the manager presumably was at the moment. A few moments later the manager did appear and he was exactly as Elisa had described him, a little old man who required a cane to get around. Still there was the nice grandfatherly look to him which hopefully possessed a co-operative attitude when it came to being questioned by police. Smiling a bit in the hopes of putting the elder at ease he was surprised when he received a spiteful glare in return. Apparently something about the way he looked was rubbing the man the wrong way and the manager was making no effort to hide it.

"Sir, might I ask you a few questions?" Matt asked gently as the old man sat down in a chair behind the counter.

"Ye 'ave come about the Havender boy 'aven't ya? I *knew* that kid was bad news the moment he started lazing about on the job!" , the man yelled with surprising volume, "I suppose ye 'ave come to ask where he might 'ave stashed his drugs eh? Well they aren't here! I cleaned the place out the day he was fired!"

"Ah, no sir, I am afraid that Mike Havender is dead." , Matt replied and heard a few gasps about the employees in the store, "I'm here to ask you if you knew anybody with a reason to kill him."

"It was probably one of his dealers comin' for payment! Without money from his job here he couldn't afford it and so the dealer killed him for it!" , the manager said bitterly and with plenty of spite, "That's what ye get when you start using drugs, you wind up *dead* either way."

"Did you ever happen to hear the name of this dealer or perhaps seen him giving the drugs to Mr. Havender?" Matt asked as he began to doubt that he would get a straight answer from the old geezer.

"No, I make sure to keep that scum as far away from my store as possible." , replied the old man with a wicked smile, "Besides from what I could tell he didn't meet with his dealer anywhere around here. Probably met him in some alley or up at the University dormitories."

Moving onto the next question! Matt thought to himself with a moan.

"Is there anyone else you think might have a reason to kill Mr. Havender?" he asked with the hope that he would get a half decent answer.

"Nah, none of his buddies ever came around here lookin' for him." , replied the manager with a genuinely honest response, "Still I think he had a few of 'em, before he started with them drugs he seemed like a popular kid."

"So basically you never had any complaints about Mr. Havender until about a week ago, correct?" Matt asked hoping to find the beginnings of a pattern.

"Yeah, that's right. Frankly I would have bet one of my other employees was into drugs rather than Mike." , the old man replied with a contemplative look on his face, "Such a shame but with kids these days they always find a way to screw their lives up."

"Yeah, well, thanks for your time sir." , Matt stated as he tucked away his notepad, "If you think of anything else just call the 23rd prescient and ask for Bluestone."

"Of course detective." the man replied and then went back through the room he had come from in the first place.

Stepping out into the sunlight he couldn't help but feel as though this case was gonna be another of those weird ones. It seemed to be a monthly event for him and his partner, every few days they would be handed some sort of unusual case that wound up being supernatural in nature. After all not too long ago it was the Hunters, then before that it was the night that Oberon came to town and so on and so forth. Basically it was getting to the point where he silently made a bet with himself on who the culprit for each case would be. Usually it stuck around aliens or the Illuminati but this time he didn't really think either of them really had a hand in this. Hacker's reaction to his description of the murder pretty much removed the society from suspicion since his ex-partner tended to keep up to date on these things. As for aliens he had always believed them to be a bit more mysterious in their work, he doubted that they had changed to the gory style of doing things. So where exactly did that leave him? Who was at the root of this case?

Just then he heard the crunch of a pop can being stepped on.

Whipping around he hoped to catch a glimpse of whoever had stepped on said pop can but all he caught was a plaid shirt and blonde hair. Sprinting to the mouth of the alley that his unknown shadow had occupied a moment before he looked down into it and saw nothing. Unfortunately he didn't need to see anything to confirm his hunch that someone was following the case covertly since he doubted he merited any personal attention. That of course got his paranoia factory working as he tried to deduce the identity of his observer as well as the purpose of the act itself. Was it the killer making sure there was no incriminating evidence at the store? Was it a member of the Illuminati keeping an eye on him after his talk with Hacker? There were simply too many possibilities for him to round it down to anything smaller so for the moment he had nothing. Nothing but one possible and very likely assumption that caused a trickle of fear to creep into his mind.

If they sent someone to keep an eye on me they might have very well done the same with Elisa. Matt thought to himself as he flagged down a cab.

Once inside he said "NYU campus please."


	3. What do we do now?

"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

NYU Campus, 9:30 Am.

Well so much for the Professors being much help to me! Elisa thought in an annoyed tone of mind.

She had been at the NYU campus for about half an hour already talking to the administrator as well as the professors that she had been told were Mike Havender's. What information she had managed to get out of them hadn't been very much as far as being useful and most of it she already knew. Mike Havender had been a perfectly ordinary student with average grades for a third year student and had his share of friends. He had not shown any negative behavior until a week ago and had been stonewalling anyone who asked him about it, well any adult anyway. Now she was on her way to talk with a few of his supposed friends in the hopes that she would able to get more information out of them then the teachers. There was the possibility that this kids would get all rebellious towards her and hate authority to the point where she would have to leave to get away from them. She hoped that wasn't the case though because at the rate that she and Matt were going this case might never be solved.

Entering one of the dormitories she began walking down the hallways looking for the room number of the first student on her list. All about her were students of various ages hanging out and talking to one another or reading over pages of notes from a recent class. She smiled as she remembered her own time in this place of higher learning and wondered if the sort of activities she enjoyed as a teenager were still being done. Looking at the odd student as she passed by she noticed that a few of them seemed to be a bit tired and for a moment she thought that the killer had started his stalking of new victims with them. She dismissed it as she recalled the multitude of all nighters that she had been forced to endure back when she roamed these halls. Taking into account that it was the right time of year for mid-terms and papers it wasn't all that unusual to lose some sleep here and there. She brought her attention back to the task at hand as she finally reached the door marked S29 which according to the list in her hand was assigned to one of Mike Havender's friends.

As she knocked on the door and waited for a response she wondered 

Do they know that their friend is dead?

It was a few moments before the door opened but when it did she found herself looking at a fairly tall teen who was obviously a jock by the muscles. He was about four or five inches taller than her with blonde hair and blue eyes and apparently she had just woken him up judging by the state of his clothes. For a moment he seemed to be stuck in the haze that everyone is in when they first wake up but eventually consciousness creeped in and he looked directly at her.

"Yeah, what is it?" the teen asked with some sleep still evident in his voice.

"Mr. Harrison? Detective Elisa Maza, 23rd prescient, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions about your friend Mike Havender?" she asked and was surprised by the reaction he gave her.

It seemed that the minute that she had connected Mike to the police he became significantly uneasy, almost like he expected to drop dead right then and there. Not exactly the kind of response she had expected but it did indicate that Harrison might know something about Mike and his predicament. Unfortunately moments after his expression was placed on his face it disappeared behind the perfect Poker face which despite her skill she was unable to see past.

"What's happened?" Mr. Harrison asked with guarded interest.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this Mr. Harrison but I am afraid Mike is dead." , Elisa replied as she tried to see past the mask on his face, "He died early this morning and I was hoping you might be able to lend a hand."

"What do you want to know?" Harrison asked without giving up so much as an inch of what he really thought.

"Well, did Mike have any enemies on campus? Bullies that might have wanted to hurt him?" she asked as she internally hoped that something would pop up.

"Naw, Mike was just one of the guys and pretty decent if you were in a jam." , Harrison replied nonchalantly as wiped some of the sleep out of his eyes, "I can't think of anyone pissed enough at him to want to do more than talk trash about him."

"Were you aware that he was taking massive doses of stimulants for the past week?" she asked, trying a different avenue of questioning.

"I knew he was taking the odd pill to stay awake, it's mid term season ya know." , Harrison replied as if this were nothing new to him, "Not surprised that it might have mounted up lately, he was getting heat from his parents about his grades and he was pretty obsessed with it."

"So hot that he would buy over fifty bucks of the most potent stimulants money can buy" , asked Elisa with an eyebrow raised, "and not all of it legal?"

"Look, it's tough getting by here both academically and socially." , Harrison replied with a bit of an edge to his voice, "Some people can't handle it but can't ditch either so they just put up with it. I'd like to think that I knew Mike pretty well but if something bad happened to him like murder then maybe I don't know him at all."

"So basically you can think of no reason why someone would want to kill Mike Havender." Elisa declared as she tried once more to see past the stony face before her.

"Right" replied Harrison said with a look that told her that whether she liked it or not their Q&A session was over.

"Well thank you for your time Mr. Harrison." , Elisa said politely though inside she was frustrated at the lack of info she was getting, "If you think of anything else you can get in touch with me at the 23rd police prescient."

"Yeah, sure." Harrison said reflexively as he closed the door in front of her. 

Checking the list of people who reportedly had been frequently seen with Mike Havender he decided to give one of the jocks on the basketball team a try. Though she was by no means stereotypical when it came to athletes she was pretty sure that they wouldn't be able to hide anything from her like Harrison had. Turning left and heading towards the main gym where she suspected she would find a few of the die hard ball players shooting hoops between classes. With luck she could put a bit of a squeeze on one or more of them and get a little more than 'he was just an average guy'. Along the way she saw a few more people that looked like they had spent a little too much time hitting the books and tried to remember if it was like this for her when she was here. Nothing came to mind but she decided to file the fact away for later and hope that it meant something.

As she proceeded along she got a funny feeling along the back of her spine, the kind cops felt when they worry they might get a bullet there. Turning casually around she scanned the roving mass of students in an attempt to see where that feeling was coming from. She didn't think it was some punk with a gun looking for her but her cop sense did indeed give her the impression that someone was following her. Giving the crowd another look she could see no one who looked like they didn't belong or didn't have a justifiable reason for being there. Nevertheless as she continued towards the gym the feeling would not leave her, it persisted like the itch from a mosquito bite. In an attempt to draw her quarry out she sped up a little and tried to duck out of sight for a moment to see if she could catch her shadow attempting to pick up the pace. After three tries though it was obvious that either her pursuer was a lot better than she thought or it was just some of Matt's rampant paranoia rubbing off on her.

Just then she spots a sign just outside one of the larger classrooms with the word 'dreams' on it. Interested she walks toward it seeing that it was a seminar on people's dreams and in particular nightmares with a Doctor Harvey Johnson being the primary speaker. For a moment she feels the impulse to enter, to perhaps ask this Doc a few questions about her own little nightmare. At first she disregards it, after all it was just a little nightmare and hardly worth talking to a professional shrink about it all. Still, as she thinks back to the dream she had of her night in the park and the three girls playing jump rope she decides it couldn't hurt. After all, from what she had seen up until now she wasn't going to get a whole lot of information out of anyone about Mike Havender.

No sense making this trip a total loss. she thought to herself and with a shrug she opened the door.

Once inside she was pleased to see that the Doctor in question was still there and that the last few students were trickling out. That meant they would have a little privacy here and she wouldn't have to worry about hearing Matt taunt her about her dream. Looking at the object of her interest she could see that unlike most shrinks who looked detached from their listeners this doc actually seemed to care. He looked to be in his mid to late forties, an African American, a bit of a pot belly and a casual type of movement that seemed to indicate that he was honest. It took him a moment but eventually he noticed her and smiled in welcome causing her to take an immediate liking to the man.

"Hello, is there something I can do for you?" Dr. Johnson asked as he finished putting the last few stacks of paper into his briefcase.

"Kinda, I was just walking through the halls when I saw that you were giving a seminar on nightmares so I thought I'd ask you about the one I had last night." Elisa replied as she shook his offered hand.

"Well I am in something of a hurry but how about you tell me about your dream on the way to my car Miss...?" Johnson asked as he purposely left his sentence unfinished.

"Maza, Elisa Maza." Elisa replied as she walked side by side him as they left the classroom.

"Pardon me for saying so Ms. Maza but you don't look like a student." , Johnson asked as they rounded a corner, "Might I ask what brought you to NYU?"

"No problem. I'm a detective with the 23rd and I was here asking some of the students and faculty about a student who went here." , she said briefly as she tried to keep the flow of facts to a minimum, "Maybe you knew him, his name was Mike Havender."

She knew the moment that she finished stating the victim's name that the Doc knew him and perhaps he had seen his death coming to a certain degree. Silently she rejoiced that she had suddenly managed to stumble on a potential source but the problem now would be to get him to spill what he knew. If he proved to be as big of a brick wall as Harrison had been all would be for naught and she would be right back where she started. The problem was that due to the fact that Doc knew more about the problem than she did made questioning him about it all the more difficult. If she had only an inkling of what he knew she might be able to maneuver him into a corner and then pump him for as much info as possible.

Well, no one said that the life of a detective was going to be easy. she thought ruefully to herself as she watched the Doc for signs of evasiveness.

"Yeah I knew him. He occasionally dropped in on a few of my classes to ask about a few things." , Doc replied with a guarded expression that made it seem as though he was planning his answers, "Why? What's happened to him?"

Elisa didn't know for sure but it was obvious he had asked the last two questions purely for show. That either meant that he had a dislike for cops or he was trying to convince her that he didn't know anything and further questioning would be useless. Unfortunately he didn't take into account that she could see this and wasn't going to be put off until she got some answers.

"Well I'm afraid that he's dead." , she replied and saw that as expected that Doc already knew, "He was killed yesterday morning around two and rather grotesquely at that. Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to kill him?"

"No, Mike wasn't one for making enemies and those that you could call that never went beyond the usual bullying." Doc replied with a look that said he was feeling her out just as much as she was feeling him out.

"You ever see him talking to any unsavory people outside of class?" Elisa asked in the hopes that one of her questions would hit paydirt.

"No but then again I don't stick my nose into their business." , replied Doc as he tried to look casual, "It's my belief that if the kids want to talk to me they'll come to my office to do it. Until they do that there is nothing that I can do to help them."

Frustration was beginning to creep into Elisa's mood as she confronted yet another person who might be able to help her close this case and get the same stonewalling treatment. She knew that there was the possibility that both Harrison and Doc had a good reason for keeping their mouths shut but she just wished they would trust her enough to find a way to tell her the truth. Unfortunately from the way they were acting they didn't seem to trust cops with the information that they had. That usually meant that they had something to do with the crime itself or had skeletons of their own to deal with. Either way it meant that as far as answers went she was going to get absolutely zilch unless they had no other choice but to tell her.

"Well I guess that's it Dr. Johnson. Thanks for your time!" she declared as she failed to keep the frustration out of her voice.

Turning away she resumed her route to the Main gym in the hopes that she could still catch at least one of Havender's basketball buddy. She was about twenty feet away when she heard the Doctor's footsteps stop and in the hopes that Doc had changed his mind she turned to face him.

"What was your dream about Detective Maza?" Dr. Johnson asked with a look that said she knew something he wanted to know now.

For a moment she was stunned by the unforeseen question but then replied "It was of an old memory but it changed halfway through into something unusual. Three girls playing jump rope and singing a weird rhyme."

That seemed to hit a significant cord with the Doc as he seemed to look at her in a new light but the emotion she could see in his eyes was elusive in it's definition. She tried to place it but as quickly as it was there it was gone and she doubted she would see it again any time soon.

"Take my advice Detective" , Dr. Johnson said as he turned and began to walk away, "Follow Mike Havender's lead and you may live to learn truth."

**********************************************************

NYU Courtyard, 10:30 a.m.

I hope nothing happened to her. thought Matt as he waited around the university courtyard waiting for Elisa to show herself.

He knew it was probably just his usual suspicion working overtime again but he just couldn't shake the feeling that things were going to get pretty unusual in the days that followed. After all everything about this case seemed strange, from the murder weapon to the victim. Nothing seemed to fit or match any profile after all usually any sicko who could decapitate someone and boil the head on the stove aren't all that concerned with secrecy. The killer shouldn't be this difficult to spot but so far he had yet to find a scrap of evidence that might give them a direction to go. Chances are Elisa wasn't having much better luck and they would have to go back to the Captain empty handed once more which wasn't going to do the NYPD's PR any good. After all the public at large is going to want results with a murder like this and when they get zip it was going to make cops in general look incompetent. Then at the back of his mind he was still trying to figure out what case he had heard about back at the Bureau seemed so like this one.

"Hey Matt!!" yelled a voice from behind him and he saw Elisa trotting up behind him.

Getting up from his seat by the fountain he replied "Hey Elisa! So, did you turn anything up or was the cupboard bare?"

Joining him in a light walk towards her car Elisa replied "Afraid not, I think there are some people that know what is going on but they won't talk about it."

"Did you try pressing them for answers?" he asked while hoping that the answer was no.

"I did but they basically told me to back off or that the Q&A session was over." , Elisa replied with a sigh as she began to scan the parking lot for her car, "I just don't get it Matt, we have been asking all the right people but we're getting nada! You'd think that the killer was invisible or that he was picking his victims at random!"

"Maybe he is. After all some psychoes don't kill for any real reason other than pure pleasure." , Matt stated as they began to walk towards Elisa's car, "Unfortunately that's going to make our job all the harder since killers like this don't really discriminate."

"Great! The one person who won't judge a person by skin color or system 

of beliefs and he's a depraved murderer!" Elisa muttered under her breath 

as she took her key chain out of her pocket.

Just then the radio inside the car squawked to life

"Fairlaine 45, Fairlane 45, come in please." Spoke the dispatcher over 

the white noise.

Reaching in and grabbing the microphone Elisa replied "This is Fairlane 

45, over."

"The Captain wants you over to 23rd and Lexington right away." The dispatcher replied with a bit of uneasiness in her voice.

Looking at each other both Elisa and Matt knew that their killer had struck again so without a word between them they jumped into the fairlane and screeched out of the parking lot.

"Roger dispatch! Fairlane 45 en route!" Elisa said into the mike before almost slamming it back into it's slot.

"Looks like our boy just couldn't wait for nightfall." Matt said in a slightly humorous tone but whose expression was all business.

"Yeah well next time he does kill at night he's going to find out that he's not the only creature of the night out there!" Elisa declared as she began to show off her handling skills by maneuvering up the street between cars.

Remembering just at that moment that the siren and lights were not activated he quickly slapped the button for the police siren and carefully placed the red light on the roof of the car. Personally his stomach was churning at what they might find upon arriving at the scene of the crime, mostly since the killer had such a sick artistic streak. 

What was it going to be this time? A collage of body parts? Perhaps a surprise viewing of the human skeletal system? Nah, more likely he'll go for a real crowd pleaser like some home made street pizza with extra gore. It was almost sick that he was actually placing bets on how the victim will have died this time but at the same time it was interesting. 

After all what happened to Mike Havender wasn't a normal slashing by his standards, killers don't usually paint the walls red and cook their victim's head. Add that to the fact that he was able to leave the crime scene with not a single person seeing anything at all meant that he was either very good or very strange.

"Woah!" Matt yelled as Elisa took a turn a little too fast, pushing him against the door of the car.

"Sorry but I want to get there before the news hounds do!" Elisa said as she continued to weave in and out of the lanes of traffic between cars.

"Well unless their vans can go several times the speed of sound I think we'll beat them there by a few minutes at the rate your going!" Matt replied as he got ahold of the dashboard when Elisa made another sharp turn.

They made it to the crime scene in under fifteen minutes which is pretty impressive when you take into account New York traffic. As expected there were several officers waiting outside the house where the victim lived, each of them dealing with crowd control even though only a few were needed. Matt guessed that they had heard about the Havender murder and wanted to do anything other than go inside and see the body. That made his stomach a little queasy since it was possible that they had seen the body and gave the impression that this time it was worse. He and Elisa gave each other a look of dismay and stepped out of the car while silently praying for a stronger constitution than the other officers.

They were allowed through the police barricades and as they approached the front doors he could just make out the 'Nightwatch' news van pulling up and Travis Marshall stepping out. He let out a groan knowing full well that it was only a matter of time before that particular reporter got the goods on this case. The Captain was going to have their heads after this for sure! Hurrying in after his partner they learned that the victim was upstairs on the bed and that it was a she this time instead of a he. That little fact didn't really change the Killer M.O all that much but rather added to the idea that the murderer didn't care about his victim's background. As he continued to walk up the stairs to the bedroom he noticed several more members of either the NYPD or the coroner's office looking a little green around the gills. A few were even making use of the victim's bathroom to empty their stomach.

Definitly not a good sign if they can't even sprint outside to do it. 

Matt thought as he approached the doorway to the bedroom behind Elisa.

It only took Elisa's decidedly horrified gasp and apparent attempt to keep her lunch in to tell him that it was worse than the Havender case. Entering the room he saw that this was definitly a notch up on the gross-o-meter and he had to fight to keep his composure. There lying on the bed was a body, if you could call it that now, that looked to be little more than skin and bones. Beneath the body though the bed was literally soaked in bodily fluids from blood all the way to fat juices. The skin looked like it had been literally freeze dried to the girls skin to the point that it looked like it would rip at any time. Trying to look away he instead focused on the officer who seemed to be in charge of things. The man was standing in the corner looking visibley shaken by what he had seen and Matt couldn't blame him in the least.

Walking over Matt asked "So officer, what's the 411 on this?"

It took the man a few moments to respond but eventually he spoke.

"The victim's name is Julie Richardson, apparantly a gymnist at NYU." , replied the officer in a shakey voice, "The victim was found by her friend Nancy when Ms. Richardson didn't show up for her 8:15 class. A-after Nancy pulled herself together she called the police and I responded to the call."

"You see anything suspicious when you arrived on the scene?" Elisa asked as she tried to overcome the sick feeling in her stomach.

"No Detective Maza, everything seemed pretty normal until you got up here to the bedroom." , replied the police officer with a broken voice, "I checked all the windows and doors but none of them seem to have been jimmied open or broken."

Seeing that the man wasn't going to keep it together much longer Bluestone said "Thanks officer, if you think of anything else please get in touch with us."

He merely nodded blankly as Bluestone and Maza walked away and Matt could tell he was really considering finding another line of work. Going over to the coroner who was still examining the body he hoped that they would be able to get something constructive out of him. After all this had to be able to give them some clue as to the killer's identity, killers can't do this to a body without some specific equipment. Havender was a gruesome but simple slash job but this was...was completely different and definitly unique.

"So what have you got for us this time?" Elisa asked as the medical examiner stood up and turned to her.

"Well Detective I'm afraid that I am at something of a loss to explain this." , the aged examiner replied, "The body seems to have been cooked to the point where the bodily fluids simply boiled out of her but there are no holes in the skin. If any incendary device was used it would have left scorch marks somewhere, it's almost as if she were thrown in a mircowave set on high."

"A Microwave?" Matt asked almost incredulously despite that the description seemed accurate enough.

"I know it sounds crazy detective but it's all I can come up with at the moment" , replied the examiner as he threw up his hands in frustration, "To tell you the truth I think something very strange is going on here."

You don't know the half of it! thought Matt as he thanked the examiner and shook the old man's hand.

Once outside Elisa turned to him and asked "So what do you think so far?"

"Well one thing is for sure, our killer isn't one of your garden variety perps." , Matt replied as they made their way to the fairlane, "I might have been able to believe that of the Havender case but after seeing this, not a chance!"

"So we're dealing with something supernatural in nature huh?" , Elisa rhetorically asked as she took the keys to her car out of her pocket, "I'll do a Q&A session with Owen tonight when I visit the guys. Maybe he'll be able to shed some light on this case because we sure haven't."

23rd Precient House, Captain Chavez's Office, 11:30 a.m

"So basically Captain we're dealing with one incredibly sick but slick perp here." , Elisa stated as she finished her laying out of the facts, "No telltale clues left behind and no apparent motive aside from the killing itself."

"No connection between the victims at all?" Chanvez asked a bit hopefully.

"None other than the fact that they were well liked with no apparent enemies beyond the average schoolyard bully." Matt replied with a sigh of frustration all his own.

"Any ideas on where to go from here?" asked the Captain.

"Only to peruse old case files and hope that we find a match in there before this sicko kills again." Elisa stated with a less than optimistic look on her face.

"Which will take time we don't have." , Matt said filling in the last part of the sentence, "Still, I have a few friends in the FBI who are doing some digging for me, hopefully the killer didn't choose the Big Apple for his debut."

"Well then you had better get to it because the Mayor just called me before you came in and he knows about the Havender murder." Chavez said with a groan telling the two detectives that the discussion was not fun at all. 

"Did he sound pissed?" Matt asked hesitantly.

"Very." Chavez said with an eyebrow raised in significance.

"Well we're on it." Elisa declared and with that got up to leave the Captain's office to do her job.

Just as she was about to leave she spotted a newspaper clipping sticking out from inside a folder. She couldn't see the entire headline except for the words murder and the beginnings of a town name with the word 'Spring' in it. What had the Captain been looking at and why did this clipping give her the idea that Chavez knew more about this killer than she was letting on?

"Problem Detective?" asked Chavez in a tone that basically said subtley mind your own business or else.'.

Not wanting to raise the Captain's ire any more than it already was she quickly walked out of the office with Matt following up close behind her. Yet despite the Captain's warning and the trust that had built up between them she was reluctant to dismiss what she had seen in the office. True Chavez was a police captain and that entitled her to have a few case folders it seemed a little too coincidental that she had one for mutltiple murders. Filing away the fact for later she decided she might as well get to work and see if she could come up with anything to break the case open a crack or so.

"Well I'm off to see if I can get into contact with Hacker again and coax something out of him." , Matt stated as they walked through the squad room, "If that turns into a dead end the best I can hope for is to hang around the dorms and hope that something happens."

"Yeah well I bet that you'll be having more fun than I will." , Elisa said sarcastically as she imagined the numerous filing cabinets she would have to look through, "So you'll mett me at the Eryie building tonight to see what the guys and Xanatos have managed to put together on their ends?" 

"It's a date." Matt replied and with that turned down towards the 

precient entrance to make his way to the NYU campus.

It's going to be a loooonnngggg day! Elisa thought to herself with a groan as she headed down to the archive room.

Central Park, 12:30 p.m

"You're a persistent man Matthew." Came the familiar voice of Agent Hacker of the FBI and member of the Illuminati.

"Well that's one of the qualities that got me a membership isn't it?" , Matt asked rhetorically as he turned to see Hacker's approaching figure, "So have you been able to get anything for me on this case or has this just been another splendid waste of time for the both of us?"

"Sorry Matthew but the moment I tried to get anything for you from our little club I was cut off and politely told by the higher ups to mind my own business." , Hacker responded with what might have been regret in his eyes, "Heck, I shouldn't even be here now but I felt you should at least have some warning about how big this is."

Big doesn't even begin to explain things! Matt thought to himself as he tried to put the pieces together in his head.

If the all powerful Illuminati Society was worried about this to the point that they classified all information and effectively put a lid on those who had access to it then the warning bells in his head were definitley on the verge of overheating. It was exciting and at the same time it was frightening because if this was big enough to cause the Society to more than bat an eye than he was way out of his league. Still this made the need for information even more insistant since both he and Elisa would be better prepared for what they had to face with it than without. Just then he remembered the plaid wearing shape that he had spotted coming out of the electronics store and decided that this was as good a time as any.

"Did you have anyone following me today?" he asked in a neutral voice as he watched his ex-partner's reaction.

"No. Why? Was there someone following you?" Hacker asked in a way that made it seem as though he wanted the answer to that question as well.

"Yeah, I was coming out of an electronics store on 33rd when I got the feeling that I was being watched." , Matt replied as he tried to recall what he had seen, "When I looked all I saw was a plaid shirt and blonde hair. When I tried to run after the person they disappeared and I just assumed that you had assigned him to keep an eye on me."

"Well I don't know how to tell you this Matthew but I didn't have anyone follow you and I'm pretty sure no one in the club saw this coming either." Stated Agent Hacker as a small frown came across his face.

"Which means that there are people out there besides us who know something or want to know something." , Matt muttered as he pondered this new information, "Question is do they know anything about the killer or are they just as in the dark as the rest of us?"

"No way of knowing without catching this unwelcome shadow and even then there is no gaurantee that this person will talk." Hacker commented as he mirrored Matt's train of thought.

"Maybe but at the moment this is the only lead I have as to who this killer is." , Matt said as he got up from the park bench, "Well sorry to drag you back here for the second day in a row."

"No problem. I find that meeting with you is rarely a waste of time." , Hacker said as he got off the bench himself, "In a way you're almost like Spooky in what you manage to sniff out."

"Don't let him hear you say that or you might make him mad." Matt said humerously with a smile.

"Yea well I'll leave you to straighten things out." , Hacker replied with a laugh of his own, "Oh and Matt? If you learn anything about this killer be sure to send the info my way okay?"

"Sure thing Hacker!" Matt replied and with no further words needed to be said the two trenchcoat wearing Illuminati members strolled away from each other.

Little did they know that their little meeting had been monitored by a seemingly indiscrimate jogger gal who had bent down nearbye to tie her shoelace. She had been listening almost since the conversation had begun and had been more than interested with the mentioning of a club with access to unusual facts. It was disappointing however when her efforts went down the tubes since no information about the killer had been revealed. Not that she and her friends didn't know some big things aboutthe scar faced creep but it still didn't mean that they couldn't use more. Leaving well enough alone she decided it was time to report in to the 'dults and let them know what had happened. So far two out the three of them had been either seen or contacted aimlessly and she doubted it would take long for the two NYPD detectives to track down the third.

Getting up from her kneeling position she turned towards the north entrance to the park and jogged casually away.

23rd Precient, Archive Room, 1:30 p.m

Next time I'm the one that is going to see the informant and Matt is going to be the one to look through the archives! Elisa thought to herself with a frown.

She had been in here an hour and was just about bored to tears with all the reports. She had already looked through the reports for the past six months and nothing even remotely matched the current murderer's profile. That either meant that he was not a local boy or had been sitting on his hands for the past six months before starting his murdering spree again. Whichever it was she was beginning to think that she wouldn't find very much here that would b of help. She could look through all these files from now until the year 2000 and she still probably would not find anything. That meant that she would have to do some careful asking around at other precients to see if they had ever had anything like this. Not that they were likely to say to but it was pretty common among the law enforcement community that stepping outside your jurisdiction was frowned upon. Still there was a chance that this creep had gone on a killing spree elsewhere and just moved a couple of blocks before starting over. After all Chavez seemed pretty determined to keep a lid on this which seemed to indicate some pressure from the higher ups. 

"Unfortunatly that leads to the question of whether or not the Captain was hiding anything important." Elisa muttered to herself as she stood up and stretched out.

Just then her cel-phone rang and nearly caused her to jump five feet in the air with shock before she eventually got a hold of herself. Taking it out of her pocket she looked at the display and saw that it was Xantos that was calling her which made her wonder if she should cheer or frown. Sighing with reluctance she appropriate button and placed the phone beside her head hoping for good news.

"Maza! What's up Xanatos?" Elisa asked as she looked obliviously at the file folders in front of her.

"Good to hear from you too Detective." , Xanatos replied dryly, "I just thought you might want to know that whatever you have on your hands is pretty big, my club is keeping a tight lid on things. Fortunatly a little pondering on the part of Owen and myself turned up a possible lead for you. Meet us at the burnt out youth center down in the Bronx in an hour and I may have more to tell you about your mysterious killer."

"I'll pick up Matt and we'll meet you there." Elisa declared with a bit more exuberance than she had meant to.

Ending the call she shoved the phone in her pocket and quickly walked out of the archive room towards the front entrance to the precient. It wasn't that she treated Xanatos' info as a god send or anything but given that she wasn't doing any good on her end made this a welcome change of pace. Perhaps now they might be able to at least put a name to the killer and where there is a name there is a police record. Completely oblivious to those around her she weaved in and out of the squad room crowd heading past her desk. Once outside she was about to reach into her pocket to get her keys when a haunting song filled the air and chilled her bones.

"One...two... Freddy's coming for you...three...four...better lock your door" came the familier trio of voices from the direction of the parking lot.

"What the...!?" Elisa exclaimed. 

Puzzled she goes towards the parking lot, something in the back of her mind nagging her, as if some voice was telling her that something was terribly wrong. Entering the parking garage she is surprised to find it empty, after all it was mid-day and it should be reasonably full with cars belonging to the desk jockeys. This only heigtens her unease as she procedes at random towards the direction her car is in, trying to find the source of the singing even in an echo chamber like this.

"....5.....6....grab your crucifix....7.....8.... better stay up late...." Came the voices of the same three girls as Elisa turned the corner of the concrete barrier, fully expecting to come upon the kids.

The only things she see's are the dead and mutilated bodies of the murder victims. They lay there staring at her as if they were alive, looking with misery at her and yet at the same time with an urgency that wasn't intended for themselves. Elisa almost gagged at the sight backpedalling reflexively before stopping to try and make sense of her surroundings and her predicament. Just then the parking garage was filled with the screeching sound of metal on concrete, causing Elisa to whip around to try and find the source. Unfortunatly just as suddenly as the sound started it stopped, leaving the air quiet as if nothing had happened, making what was going on seem more eerie to her. Taking her firearm out of it's holster she began to carefully search the garage, checking every nook and cranny, with her gun ready should anything show itself.

".....9.....10.....never sleep again." Came the end of the rhyme as the voices of the three little girls seemed to fade into nothingness.

"Screeeeeeech!!!" came the sound once more, a chilling sound, of metal scraping against stone but this time it was coming from the opposite direction.

"Look! Whoever you are, come out now and lets finish this face to face!" Elisa yelled into the darkness as she tried to make out some sort of shape.

"Now what would be the fun in that Bitch!" came a deep throaty voice in return to her demand. 

We'll see how much fund your having when I pump you fulla lead jackass!! she thought to herself as she continued to search the parking garage for her stalker.

Elisa could hear him breathing, hear the occasional small laugh as he thought amusing things about her but she could never manage to narrow down a point of origin. It was as if he was coming at her from everywhere and no where at the same time and given what she had just seen that wasn't entirely impossible. Looking around 360 degrees she finally decided to stop playing this jerk's came of hide and go seek and just get the hell out of here. Changing into a tactical retreat she began to make her way towards her Ford Fairlane and prayed that she would be able to make it there before this sicko caught on. Turning right and left, combing each direction before continuing, she swiftly made her way closer and closer towards her red Fairlane. Just then she heard a car come to life behind her and she was shocked by this because she recognised the sound of the engine. Whipping around she looked and confirmed what she had suspected by the sound of the car engine, the same sicko that had been taunting her had somehow hotwired her car!

"Heheheheh!! Let's take her for a test drive!" exclaimed the man in the dirty fedora as the fairlane screeched out of it's parking spot.

Elisa didn't need to be a genius to figure out what he planned to do with that and immediately started running, trying to put some distance between her and the maniac. She ran as hard as she could, all the while hearing his sadistic laughter echoing in her ears, as the roar of the car got closer and closer. Suddenly she got a crazy idea and almost dismissed it out of hand before deciding that it was the only way that she would avoid becoming roadkill. Waiting, just until the sound of the engine was appropriatly close, she then jumped into the air doing a back flip onto the hood of her own car. With a thud she almost whooped in victory but at the time was too concerned with just staying on the car and not falling off. Looking into the front seats of the car she got her first real look at the creep and was disgusted by what she saw.

Behind the heel of her car is a man dressed in a red and green stiped sweater that looks like it has been worn one too many times already. On the steering wheel is what looks like a home-made glove with metal fingers attached and razors attached to each finger tip. Finally she looks at the face of the driver and sees a man's face, burnt to the point where it looks like a melting wax figure rather than a face of flesh and blood. The thing that caused her blood to run cold though was not his gruesome appearance but rather the insane, sadistic look in his eyes. As if he would kill her in the most sick and depreaved way possible and enjoy every last moment right up until the moment she breathed her last breath.

"Hahahahahahaha!! Better buckle up!!" the man chuckled with sadistic glee and all of a sudden, as if from nowhere, a leather seatbelt sprang up and wrapped around Elisa's waist.

"Ahhhh!" Elisa exclaimed as she looked down to see the hellish buckle latch on to the other strip of leather and lock.

Two more seatbelts spring up, one pins down her legs while the other forces her head down to the point to where she is cheek-to-steel with the hood of her car. She struggles as best she can, trying to free at least her head from the straps so she might be able to see where this freak was taking her. Then again she might feel better not knowing where he was taking her considering what he probably had in mind. Suddenly she hears the sound of metal scraping against metal and sees as as the metal around the headlights and the front fender of her car begin to change.

Slowly but surely they began to take on a mor organic look to them, as if they ceased being cold hard steel and had become real living flesh. Then the roof of the car seemingly began to grow black hair until you could swear someone had put a toupee on top as a joke. The most tell-tale hint though was when the roar of the engine changed into the roar of some monster, growling viciously as they sped around the streets. Finally the most surprising change of all occurred as the man pulled up a bicycle pump from somewhere around his feet. Grinning like a madman he places the pump between his legs and begings ramming the handle up and down. Disgusted Elisa turned away but was then struck by another curious sensation, a sensation of being elevated higher and higher and when she opened her eyes she saw what the bicycle pump was really for.

Rising up over the sides of the car was a huge spiked tire and she was pretty sure that the same was the case with all the other tires. She groaned in disbelief as she saw what was happening to her car, for a moment gaining respite from her fear. 

"Now this is what I call a monster truck!!" exclaimed the burnt man with glee as he turned another corner.

The only problem was that the street he turned onto was full of people, people who seemed unusually unaware of the terror that was barrelling down upon them. She iimmediately tried to scream at them to get out of the way but before she could do so a fourth leather strap clamped down over her mouth silencing her. Frantically she pulled and tugged at her bonds, hoping to get at least one arm free so she could remove the strap from her mouth so she could scream but she couldn't move a muscle. Suddenly there was a thump and the car lurched up and then down as if it had hit a pot hole and just as she was about to ask the question as to what happened a splash of blood covered her face.

"Well I think it's about time that we took in on home!!" , roared the man in the dirty fedora as he suddenly turned onto a different street and accelerated, "It's way past your bedtime bitch!!"

Frantically Elisa redoubles her efforts to free herself from the leather straps tieing her down but to no avail. Just then there is another thump and for a moment she thinks that the man has run over another victim but surprisingly there is no gush of blood flowing over her. Suddenly the strap holding her head down lets go and she can freely move her head about. Turning she looks to see a teenage girl kneeling carefully on the hood of the car cutting through the seatbelts with a large knife. Another strap is cut and she can finally get to her feet somewhat even though they are moving on a fairlane from hell.

"Hey! This was a private get together bitch!!" Yelled the burnt man in a rage.

"Sorry Freddy! You'll spoil your dinner with all these afternoon snacks!" said the blonde girl, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Furiously the burnt man punched his way through the windshield of the car with a gloved hand and tried to grab one of their legs.

"Quick! Jump!" yelled the young blonde girl and without a second thought she jumped.

Elisa looked back at what the result would be if she stayed and immediately followed suit, jumping for all she was worth off the monster truck that used to be her fairlane. Just as she thought that she was safe she felt a lancing pain in her right leg, like four knives cutting right through her jeans and into her flesh. With the pain in her leg the last thing she saw was what looked like a burnt out building at the end of the street.

23rd Precient House, Archive Room, 2:30p.m

"Ahhhhhhh!!" Elisa exclaimed as she sat up fast in her chair and almost tipped it over.

"Easy partner! It was just a bad dream!" , said Matt as he steadied his partner's chair, "I came down to see how you were doing and found you asleep."

For a moment Elisa seemed disoriented, as if she had thought she had been somewhere else but everntually replied "Yeah, I guess I nodded off while looking at the old case files."

"Find anything?" Matt asked as he sat on the edge of the desk.

"Nada, I checked every file for the past six months to look for any similar killings and came up empty" , Elisa replied as she passed him a few of the examples, "You'd think that a guy that was this much into creative deaths would have a few more works of art for us to look at!"

"Well don't feel too bad because my lead came up short also." , Matt grumbled as he remembered his unfruitful meeting with Hacker, "Apparently the society has put a tight lid on any info pertaining to this case and all possible perps and not even Hacker could get anything out for me."

"Well then that leaves Xanatos as our only line of info as to who might be behind all this." , Elisa stated as she pushed the chair back and prepared to stand up, "If he turns out to be a dead end then we'll be bone dry as far as possible leads go."

Elisa started to stand up when she felt a striking pain in her right leg that almost caused her to fall to the floor if Matt hadn't been there to hold her up. Not understanding how her leg got hurt she looked down to her leg and almost freaked by what she saw. There, just as it had been in the dream, were four bloody slash marks from the knee down to the ankle which were just far enough apart to look like they had been made by really sharp finger nails. She leaned on Matt as she tried to get as much weight off of the leg as possible and thus ease the pain a little bit.

"Hey! What happened to your leg!?" Matt asked as he eased her back into the chair as he bent down to take a closer look at her leg.

"I don't know! I mean, I've been here almost three hours an moved an inch!" she replied in confusion as she too tried to make sense of what was before her.

Then it hit her, the slashes in her dream and the ones that were now bleeding on in the exact same place. From those two facts a great many of the questions about the case were answered and despite the fact that they were followed by more questions she felt a small amout of excitement. Finally they had made some headway in this case and had a chance of catching the perp responsible for the two gruesome murders. Not wanting to waste any time sitting around here she grabbed the cloth belt of Matt's trenchcoat and wrapped it like a makeshift bandadge around the cuts. Matt protested the act but she didn't even bother answering as she started to make her way towards the door.

"Elisa where are you going!?" he exclaimed as he dumbfoundedly opened the door for her and helped her walk.

"I think I've just thought of an angle we hadn't considered but we have to get to the Eryie Building ASAP." She replied as she began to hop up the stairs one step at a time as they left the basement.

"What is it?" Matt asked, a little more curious than puzzled now.

"What would I say if I told you that the perp we're looking for is attacking these kids in their dreams and killing them without physically coming near them?" she asked as they neared the top of the stairs.

"I'd say that some of my paranoia is rubbing off on you." Matt replied sarcastically even though the little gears in his head were spinning in contemplation.

"You're partly right but this is the one time when that is a good thing." Elisa stated as they entered the main hallway and began to make their way to the front entrance.

"Well did this fabulous insight tell you who our perp was?" Matt asked as if he was still having a hard time believing what he was hearing coming from his usually skeptical partner.

"Only a name and a partial description but it's the best thing we've gotten so far today." Elisa stated as they continued down the hallway.

Hopefully we can get out of the precient before the Captain or anyone else spots us. , Elisa thought to herself as she hobbled along leaning on Matt's shoulder, We would have a heck of a time explaining how I got four slash marks looking through the archives downstairs.

She wasn't quite sure why she was so reluctant to speak with Captain Chavez or see her after this revelation but she had the strongest feeling that her friend was hiding something crucial from them. She couldn't put a finger on what but it was clear from the newspaper clippings in the Captain's office and her reaction to the prelimenary investigation that something had struck a cord. There was something about this crime that both frightened Maria Chavez and at the same time it was something she almost acted like it was expected. Eventually there would be a confrontation but before that happened Elisa wanted answers and there was only one man who could give them to her.

Eryie Building, David Xanatos' office, 3:00 p.m

Xanatos was in the middle of a meeting with the head of Personnel when Detective Maza burst in and given the look on her face she would not be content with simply waiting outside until the meeting was over. Without saying a word he motioned to the Personnel head that he was to leave immediately and would be summoned later to resume the meeting. Normally he would have made some snide comment to the detective to show his displeasure at her barging in here unannounced but given the most likely topic of discussion he didn't. Instead he decided to make a more co-operative statement in the hopes that they would be able to talk rather than yell.

"What can I do for you Detective?" Xanatos asked as he steepled his hands in front of him.

"Have you heard anything more about the case from your secret club?" Elisa asked as she continued to walk foreward with a slight limp.

"I'm afraid that I have faired no better than Agent Hacker did Detective." , Xanatos replied with a sigh that showed that he was disappointed as well, "My club has a lid on this tighter than anything I've seen during my time as a member. Apparently they are afraid of what this case implies or they see a way to profit by it that I won't commit myself to."

"Did you find anything about that case that I mentioned, the small town slasher murders?" Elisa asked as Matt entered the room and closed the door.

"Surpisingly Detective there are a veritable multitude of cases that fit that profile inside the F.B.I's archives. I have already begun to sift through the files myself but I believe it will take some time to find what you are looking for." replied Owen in his usual 'ice man' manner even though she had not been addressing him.

"Well I think I may have come across something that might narrow the field considerably." , Elisa declared as she sat down in front of the desk with some relief, "Check the files for a murderer named Freddy who has a fancy for using a razor tipped glove and may have worked in a town called Springwood."

For a moment Xanatos processed that information than looked to Owen to see his response and was shocked to see his major domo looking distinctly paler than he usually did. It was obvious that the Detective had hit the jackpot because Mr. Burnette definitly knew something. For a few minutes Owen simply stood there with eyes wide open and an unusual look on his face but eventually he seemed to riegn himself in. Straightening his glasses and fixing his tie he looked squarely at the Detective as if anything other than her did not exist at all.

"Detective, where did you gain this information?" Owen asked in a slightly shaken tone of voice.

"Directly from the horses mouth you could say." , Elisa replied as he eyes narrowed into an accusing stare, "I had been looking through old case files at the precient when I fell asleep. Unfortunatly this particular dreamland turned out to be more of a nightmare than a 

fantasy. You know something about this Owen?"

"Perhaps." , replied the stoney blonde as he looked even more out of sorts, "One final question detective; was there anything else about this man's appearance that you can recall?"

Frowning Elisa replied "Yeah, his face was burned up pretty bad and he was wearing a red and green striped sweater."

Owen's face hit full pale status when the Detective finished her description and that was enough to cause Xanatos to feel a chill to go up his spine. Anything that caused a virtually immortal fey to be that scared was not something to be taken lightly. Still this silence that seemed to be filling up the room was doing them no good, if there was a danger in the city then they needed to know how to fight it.

"Owen would you care to fill us in?" Xanatos asked calmly as he waited for his major domo's response.

"I am afraid sir that I have precious little information to fill you in with." , Owen replied as he seemed to try and steel himself against what he was feeling, "Around fifteen years ago Queen Titania sensed an unusually dark energy in the town of Springwood, Ohio and sent me to investigate. She gave no real reason for this other than simple 

curiousity so I was happy to oblige her."

"When I arrived in the town everything seemed normal except for the sense of evil that permeated the area. At the time I had simply thought that some dark mage had recently cast a spell that backfired on him but that was before I learned differently. Before the teenagers started to die."

"Die?" Elisa asked as she beat Xanatos to the proverbial punch.

"It was a rash of deaths at a local asylum, the doctors there labelled most of them as suicides but the patients there sweared that some monster was going to kill them in their dreams" , Owen replied as a distant look came over him, "At first I agreed with the doctors, after all it was an asylum and I had seen stranger things. That was before I actually decided to enter the dreams of one of the patients to see this 'bad man' for myself."

"Needless to say I believed the young teens from that moment onward. The visage of evil that was stalking them in their dreams was identical to the man you described Detective and the sleeper dubbed him Freddy. Unfortunatly by entering the dream I made myself known somehow to this creature and thus became his prey. I was cocky at the time and believed that I could defend myself adequetely against this murderer but when I tried to defeat him I found myself powerless."

"Powerless?" Xanatos asked in mild surprise at the rare occurance.

"I was as surprised as you Mr. Xanatos but I did not have much time to contemplate the situation as the evil man's eyes fell upon me." , Owen replied and an almost imperceptible shiver ran through him, "His eyes.....t-they held such evil... such sadistic lusts that the outside world seemed brighter than it ever had before. Thankfully when he lost his focus on his former prey the sleeper woke up and allowed both of us to escape." 

"I didn't sleep at all since that encounter while I remained within the small town. Within a few days though the evil presence seemed to disappear, as if someone had succeeded in defeating it where I could not" , explained Owen as he continued his tale, "Unfortunatly when I learned of the method of his defeat I experienced significant doubt as to whether or not simply putting Freddy's soul to rest would do the trick. Still my job was done so I left the town and asked a person living on the outskirts of the town to monitor things for me. Her reports have been less than promising."

"What do you mean 'less than promising'?" Elisa asked as decidedly unhappy look appeared on her face. 

"Roughly two years after that Freddy escaped and began his murder spree anew for about a week or two before he was once again defeated by the town's teenagers." , replied Owen as he began to develop a frown on his face, "This however didn't finish him either since three years later Freddy reappeared once more to resume his work. After the initial phone call from the woman whom I asked to monitor matters I never heard from her again."

"What happened to her?" Xanatos asked with intense interest.

"I don't know. When I tried to contact anyone in the town for information pertaining to her whereabouts I was unable to get a coherant answer." , replied Owen as his frown seemed to deepen, "The townsfolk who answered seemed mentally disturbed, not drastically but enough to cause them to fall into a low level state of paranoia and sleep deprivation. Since then I haven't dared go back to that town for fear of finding the entire population dead by less than kind methods."

"So how did he find his way here?" Xanatos asked as he began to ponder the ramifications of the trouble they were in.

It was not a pretty picture in the least, to think of a sadistic serial killer in a city with literally millions of victims available. Worse yet the killer struck when the person was sleeping and that was the one thing that no one human could go very long without whether they wanted it or not. Add that to the fact that this thing was apparently immortal and you had a very unpleasant situation that could only get worse. Immediatly he began to make plans for getting his wife and son out of the city as fast as possible and as far away as possible. He wanted them to be safe before he tried to confront this killer and the sooner they left the better. As for himself he had to admit it was awefully tempting to leave as well but that would be a cowards way out and he had an image to keep up.

"I have no idea Mr. Xanatos. It was my general hypothesis that Freddy was confined to Springwood due to the fact that the murders never went farther than the Springwood city limits." , Owen replied as he cleaned a smudge on his glasses, "I can only guess that he 'stowed away' by attaching himself to someone who was leaving the town."

"Is it possible that this person was unaware of this?" Maza asked with some concern.

"I would think that a person would have to be either insane or incredibly sadistic to bring him here knowingly Detective." Owen replied in a tone that made it appear that he believed her question to be rather stupid.

"We'll worry about the how later Detective, right now we have to worry about how we can stop him." stated Xanatos as he left his chair to join the other two in the center of the room.

"Not to mention how we can protect ourselves." Maza added with a stone face.

"Well for one thing we cannot hope to win by following the example of the previous victims and forcing ourselves to stay awake constantly." Xanatos declared as his stroked his beard. 

"What do you have in mind sir?" Owen inquired.


	4. A Plan Undone.

"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

**************************************************************

Castle Wyvern Tower, Sunset

"You sure this is such a good idea?" Elisa asked as she watched the sun slowly disappear beneath the horizon.

"Detective it makes perfect sense, they are already nocturnal and are protectors by nature." , Xanatos replied with a slightly smug look on his face, "Besides its either than or get hooked on speed and I'm told that it is not very good for one's health."

"Fine. Let's just see if they'll do it first before you go making any plans." stated Elisa as the last few rays of sunshine faded away.

Finally the last bit of sunlight vanished from the skies and cracks began to appear on the smooth stone statues before the trio. It was an awakening like no other, one that put that film about catching ghosts to shame in terms of realism. Xanatos and Owen looked on with anticipation but Elisa Maza looked at the forms before her with something more than simple eagerness. For nearly three years she had fought beside these guardians of the night and their prescense certainly livened things up. After all what cop could say that they had gone on a world cruise helping people from every walk of life. Not only that but she had encountered beings that she had only seen in fairy tales, gods and godesses as well as characters from some classic works of Shakespeare. Not that she wasn't quick to adapt to the different situations but she was beginning to wonder when they would hit that glass barrier between reality and fantasy, if it really existed at all. Knowing that the clan would be fully awake in about a second she put such thoughts away and began to run through what she would say to Goliath.

After all what can I tell him? That 'the boogy-man is killing kids in their dreams and I need you to make sure I don't wind up on the slab!'? , she said with a sarcastic grin as the lavender giant before her streched his wings out, Yeah, like he'd believe that!

Sensing people behind him Goliath turned around and said "Elisa! What brings you to my perch tonight?"

"Well we hit a break in the homicide case that I think you guys should hear about." she replied as she looked around the edges of the tower as the others joined them.

"What kind of break Elisa? The sicko get sloppy?" Broadway asked as he hung on her every word.

She smiled as the aqua gargoyle fell into the role of rookie detective and replied "No he's still as sick as ever but thanks to a surprise appearance I was able to I.D him."

"What!?" exclaimed Goliath as concern covered his face like the tide coming in.

"He actually showed up at the station?!" Brooklyn asked with equal disbelief.

"In a fashion. Apparently this isn't your ordinary serial killer and we're not gonna catch him using the usual methods" she replied and immediately went into the explanation of what she learned about Freddy.

Most of the clan looked back at her with looks of concern and fear but 

Hudson was stroking his beard with eyes hat told her he was in deep thought. It was only to be expected that the clan would react in such a way, they were used to fighting physical beings that could feel pain. It was a whole new ballgame fighting someone who could only be found in your dreams, the one place where it was the strength of your mind and spirit that mattered not your body. Still they had overcome worse and with a little luck they could overcome this before things became too serious.

"What can we do?" Goliath asked after he had riegned in his fear and put his stoney face on.

"There is not much you can do physically Goliath since this entity possesses no form in the physical world. Mr. Xanatos has suggested that the best way you could aide us is by standing guard during the night over the necessary individuals while they sleep." , replied Owen in his usual robotic way, "From the examples of the two previous victims it is obvious that staying awake constantly is ineffective at best. Thus it will be up to the clan to waken us should Freddy make a move while we sleep."

"In other words you want us to babysit and dunk you in cold water if it looks like you're fighting someone?" inquired Brooklyn with a grin plastered on his face.

Elisa knew instantly what the beaked gargoyle was thinking and even she had to smile a bit at the idea of him watching over Xanatos or Owen. No doubt there would be a few 'accidents' and misfires that would result in one of the two getting wet unecessarily. Unfortunatly for the brick red gargoyle both businessmen caught on as well and gave him a glare that clearly stated his fate if he awoke them for his own amusement. Putting up his hands in surrender Brooklyn's grin disappeared mostly from his face but not entirely. 

"While I would understand if you did drop me in the tub I would quite frankly prefer a more dignified method like a slap across the face or maybe an electric shock." stated Xanatos as he gave another penetrating glare to Brooklyn.

"Very well. Broadway and Lexington will go watch over Detective Bluestone while Hudson and Bronx keep watch over the Xanatoses." , Goliath stated as he looked at each member of the Clan, "Angela and Brooklyn will go to the Labyrinth to monitor matters there while I take Elisa back to her apartment and keep watch over her there."

After nodding in agreement each team of two took off for their designated post until only Elisa and Goliath remained on the tower. Whether this was by design or accident was anyone's guess but both present at the moment found it awefully convenient. Without a word the lavender giant scooped up his raven-haired friend and jumped off the tower into the darkening night. After all in the past few months they had needed fewer and fewer words to convey what they wanted to say. Eventually all that was needed was a simple look and that was it. Elisa loved the emotions she could convey to him in such a romantic way, almost as much as seeing what he was trying to convey to her. For a moment she paused, sensing the feelings of contentment and warmth possessing a new value than what she had placed on it before. It was as if her subconscious had picked up on something that her conscious mind hadn't, something that made these moments all the more precious. She shook the thought from her mind and instead focused on the city laid out before her, dismissing the foreboding feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach.

It's nothing! We're going to get through this like every other scumbag we've had to fight since the Clan woke up three years ago! she thought to herself stubbornly as she waited for her apartment to come up ahead of them.

***************************************************************************

Matt Bluestone's Apartment, 8:00 p.m

"Well guys I'm going to turn in for the night and hope to catch up on all of the sleep I've lost" Matt said as he got up from the couch and started walking in the direction of the bedroom.

"Sure thing Matt!" , Broadway replied as he slammed back another can of pop while watching TV, " Any particular way you'd prefer to be woken up with?"

"Surprise me." Matt said as he closed the door behind him.

He could just imagine the looks both Lexington and Broadway were giving him and for a moment he wished he could have taken back what he had just said. After all he had a P.I-wannabe and a computor geek out there with vivid imaginations babysitting him which meant that asking them to surprise him could be trouble. Still he needed to catch up with his sleep if he was going to be in any condition to help Elisa solve this case. Matt chuckled a bit to himself as he began to strip down to just his boxers, to him it was amazing just how wierd his life had gotten since he came to this town. At the moment his abnormal cases seemed to outnumber his normal ones and it was beginning to affect him in unusual ways. For one thing he had begun to make random visits to an occult shop in town for magic charms and books like most people would go for groceries. Of course he would show most of his purchases to Mr. Burnette to verify their magic potential but for the most part he bought them for the added security they were supposed to give him. After all he didn't have the pull with the Clan that Elisa had and past experience had taught him that he didn't have his partner's uncanny ability to survive just about any catastrophe. Personally he hoped that whatever god or diety that was smiling on Elisa would look upon him a little more often.

Chances are though that the only god who would do me a favor is one who protects paranoid ex-F.B.I agents. Matt thought to himself as he pulled back the covers and slid into bed.

Five minutes later Matt was fast asleep.

*********************

"So what do you think about this whole mess?" Lexington asked as he went to the fridge to get himself a small snack.

"Well if Elisa says she was attacked in her dreams by some psycho killer than I believe her." , Broadway replied firmly, "Still how do you stop someone who you can only see when you're asleep?"

"Good question." , Lexington replied as he tried to find something besides leftover pizza and pop to eat, Too bad I don't have any answers.

It was a rare moment when he was actually stumped by a problem, being the resident genius and all, but this one had him stumped. After all he had never heard anything about this from the Clan elders back in tenth century Scotland and in the here and now most sources of information on dream killers was mere speculation. Still at least they had Owen in their corner, with Puck's knowledge of all things mystical it shouldn't be too long before they had a battle plan to deal with this thing. Until then he an Broadway would just have to make sure that nothing happened to Matt while he slept hopefully that wouldn't be too hard. Closing the fridge he put his sandwich on the counter and began to fill a large vase with cold water from the kitchen sink just in case this Freddy made an appearance. Hopefully a cold dash of water would be enough to wake Matt up because he personally didn't want to have to try one of the more dangerous solutions.

Once finished he went over to Matt's computer and switched it on hoping that he could get a hold of one of his online pals and see if they had heard anything about a dream killer. Maybe 'Witch-GRL' knew about this thing, she always gave the impession that she knew more about the things that went bump in the night than any of the others at the chat room. He tried once to use the super computors at the Eryie Building to track her down but the closest he had ever gotten was some place called Sunnydale, California before the connection was broken. Even though he didn't know who she was beyond the codename she still had passed along some helpful hints and facts so he didn't mind much that she wanted her privacy. It took him awhile to track her down but eventually he did in the chat room of some wiccah homepage at spooky.net where apparently she had fallen back on her old topic of 'how to cure werewolfism in the least painful way possible'. It had been a topic he had seen her engage in a few times before when he had logged onto the chat room but it really seemed to be bugging her this time. Waiting for a gap in the replies to her inquiries 

finally got an opening and dove in head first:

Lex : Hey Witch-GRL! Hate to take you away from your favorite topic 

but I've got a problem and I was wondering if you knew 

anything that could help me?

Witch-GRL : Sure, whats the problem? Having trouble with those 

Quarrymen raiding P.I.T meetings?

Lex : Nah, that virus you planted in their mainframe 

totally crashed it. Some friends of mine have stumbled 

into something a little too wierd and need some help. 

Ever hear anything about some evil spirit that kills you 

in your dreams? Something named Freddy?

Right then and there the entire chat room seemed to come to a screeching halt and there were no new entries from Witch-GRL or anyone else for a minute or two. Lex wondered for a moment if Matt's computor had just frozen up but then his friend finally replied.

Witch-GRL : What do you know?

Lex : Just that there have been a rash of really gorey 

killings in Manhattan and that the cops are clueless as 

to how to catch this guy. He leaves no real evidence at 

the crime scene and every last one of his victims had 

been trying to stay awake like crazy for about a week. 

My friends and I were about to brush it off as another 

Big apple psycho until one of them had a wierd dream 

about some guy in a red and green striped sweater who 

called himself Freddy. This guy cut her in her dream but 

when she woke up she was bleeding in the exact same spot 

as if it had actually happened. What do you know about 

this?

Witch-GRL : Not a lot but a friend of mine is here and 

I'll bet he knows but this could take a while. He needs 

to find the correct book first and MAN does he have a 

lot of books.

Lex : No problem! I've got all night!

******************************************************************

The Eryie Building, Xanatos' Master Bedroom, 9:00 p.m

"Fox you *are* getting on that flight and you are going to the Bahamas for the next little while!" David Xanatos stated firmly as he continued to pack a bag for his wife.

"Forget it David! I'm not going to tuck tail and run while you, Maza and the Clan take on some sicko who looks like death warmed over!" Fox retorted as she took what he had just placed in her suitcase back into it's correct spot in the dresser.

David sighed and stroked his beard in frustration as he looked at his wife who was standing before him with a look on her face that she usually reserved for the 'evil ninjas' on her old show. Then again that was one of the reasons why he had married her in the first place, she was strong willed and knew how to get what she wanted. When he had made his first million he could have had anything he wanted and just about any woman he wanted without any problem whatsoever. Unfortunatly most of the women who had come calling to his front door were bubble-brained airheads who thought all they had to do was perform well in bed to win his hand in marriage. While that was certainly one of the qualities he had been looking for it was not by any means the only one and when he laid eyes on Fox that first time at a social function Halcyon Renard had been throwing he knew she was the one. From then on it was only a matter of time before he managed to wrestle her away from her father and right into his waiting arms. Unfortunatly the very same qualities that had attracted him to her were stopping him from keeping her safe so that didn't exactly improve the situation much.

"More like well done Fox from the way that Detective Maza has described him." , Xanatos replied as he tried to put his thoughts in order, "Fox, its just too dangerous for you and Alex to stay here. This Freddy person attacks you in your sleep and is dangerous to make even Owen's skin go a bit paler at the mention of his name. Thats reason enough to get you two to safety which in this case means as far from here as possible."

"*Honey*, you know I love you but since when have I ever played the obedient wife in this marriage?" , Fox replied sarcastically with the eyebrow over her tatoo raised in question, "Look! How about a compromise? I'll send Alex to your father's place in Maine if you quit trying to pack my bags, okay?"

David frowned a bit as he took in what his wife had laid out for him in terms of choices. Either he allowed her to stay and risk losing her to a psychotic sandman or force her to leave and risk the cold sholder routine for probably two months at the least. Neither choice was particular but her compromise proposal would at least get his son out of the state so in the end he sighed deeply in defeat which only caused the smile on his wife's face to get bigger. With nothing left to do he left the Master bedroom and proceeded down the hallway towards his office to do some work. He knew he was dead tired and that the proper thing to do was probably to go straight to bed but unlike the other human tenants of the 

Eyrie Building he was not about to put himself in a vulnerable position. In everything he did he made sure that he had the upper hand from start to finish and so far only a certain Lord of the third race and wife had managed to defeat him in that respect. He was not about to let some serial killer get the better of him and if that meant losing a week of sleep to this being then so be it.

"Mr. Xanatos?" came Owen's familiar voice from behind him.

Stopping and turning around he replied "Yes Owen, what is it?"

"There is a Mr. Duval on the phone for you." , Owen replied with some seriousness, "He seemed to imply that procrastination would not be advisable."

Well it had to happen sooner or later! Xanatos thought with a groan as briefly stroked his beard in annoyance.

"Put the call through to my office, I'll take the call there." Xanatos stated and without further conversation he continued on his route to his office.

It had been inevitable that he would recieve a call from his immediate superior in the Illuminati Society concerning his inquiries but he had possessed a small hope that they would ignore him. After all despite the strides he had made in his standing in regards to other members but he was still considered by most to be insignificant and wet behind the ears. Unfortunatly it seemed that the higer-ups were taking exception to this situation which meant that this was something a bit more important than a nuiscence to them. That left him with something to work with in his defense, he could imply that this was an invaluable oppourtunity to learn more about this entity and perhaps control it. After all despite the reputation that this 'Freddy' might have garnered in the town of Springwood things would turn out differently here with the resources of Xanatos Enterprises at his disposal. Perhaps with a bit of cajoling he might be able to convince Mr. Duval to send him what the Society had on the entity already despite the lid that was being kept on it. There was a chance and he was quite accustomed to taking full advantage of such oppourtunities and turning them into multi-million dollar blockbuster deals.

With a practised motion he entered his office and sat down at his desk, putting on his calm visage, before he activated the vid-phone that all Illuminati members possessed. For a moment all he saw was the symbol of the Society, a pyramid with a fiery eye at the top, which symbolized the alpha and the omega. It was a bit arroagant but it was supposedly meant to imply that the Society was eternal and that it was responsible for everything that happened in the world. While he knew that the Illuminati were involved in a great number of things he doubted that they were responsible for everything. Eventually the symbol flickered and it was replaced by the silohette of a large chair with a few specks of light bouncing off the form of a man sitting in the chair. It was a common parlor trick among the upper class of the Society to put on this facade of anonymity whenever speaking to a lower member. It's purpose, at least according to rumors, was to intimidate others into obediance since the person would not know if the superior was friend or foe. Unfortunatly that particular trick didn't work as well on one David Petros Xanatos, or at least that was what he tried to convey in his expressions.

"Greetings Chairman of the fourth circle." Xanatos said in the customary fashion.

"Greetings chair four of the fourth circle." , replied the distorted voice of the stranger, "You know why I have contacted you?"

"I suspect it has to do with my inquiries concerning the gruesome murders that Detective Maza has been investigating." replied Xanatos as he tried to guess his superior's reaction to this.

"Correct. I believe you were encouraged to discontinue this avenue of investigation before now." , the stranger stated firmly but with an air of sympathy, "Why have you not done so?"

"I have not done so because I believe that ignoring this could be an ill-advised move considering what my assistant Mr. Burnette has told me." 

Xanatos replied simply as he tried to keep most of the information he had 

aquired to himself.

"What exactly has he told you?" inquired the stranger with a note of curiousity.

"That a malevolant entity named 'Freddy' kills people, generally teenagers, in their dreams and has up until a few years ago was based in Springwood, Ohio." , Xanatos replied carefully as he tried to gauge his opponant's emotional status, "Now however he seems to have set down roots in Manhattan starting his reign of terror with murders apparently committed with a glove with razor tipped fingers."

From what he had managed to uncover so far from mere sight alone it seemed that the stranger was someone who had most likely voted to allow him access to the Society's files but had been outvoted in the end. It also seemed as though he had a personal stake in this cause which was a bit of a surprise but was also a welcome bit of information. It meant that if he could persuade this man of the severity of the situation he might be able to get a little more than a few files. Maybe if he played his cards right he might be able to aquire a weapon with which to fight this killer. From this moment on his mind switched from a reconaissance format to a surgical strike mission to aquire previously inaccessible tools. For a moment the person seemed to be at a loss as to what to do but more likely he was being spoken to via another line and was waiting for a decision to be made.

"It seems I have underestimated your resourcefulness Xanatos." , the stranger remarked before continuing, "Still I would reiterate that you should drop this investigation as well as leave the city for the foreseeable future. This entity has proven extremely resistant to extermination in the past and the Society believes it would be more efficient to simply avoid it."

"May inquire as to why this is the best course of action?" Xanatos asked as his composure shifted to one of intense interest.

"Suffice it to say that the entity has shown signs of being able to access a victim's memories during the confrontation." , replied the stranger calmly, "The other chairmen believe it too risky to allow a member even as low in rank as you to come into contact with it for fear that it might learn too much."

That caused Xanatos to be the one to look back in silence as he attempted to put this bit of information into context. If Freddy could access their memories and thus their plans to defeat him it was no wonder he had lasted as long as he had. He had probably disappeared more of his own volition than his enemies which made him even more formidable than he had been before. More importantly if Maza, Bluestone or Fox had fallen asleep already it could mean that the Clan's effectiveness was efficiently removed from play. As soon as he finished this conversation he would have to call them and convince them to stay awake until they came up with a more secure method of defense. Returning his attention to the Chairman of his circle he decided to play the hand that he hoped would win him some help from the society.

"I appreciate the concern sir but I'm afraid that I have never been much of a coward. Besides I still believe it would be worth the risks involved to confront the entity now." , Xanatos stated firmly and with a bit of confidence, "I don't suppose the society has any resources that might prove useful in dealing with the entity?"

"Unfortunatly no, we have nothing that the entity would not be able to circumvent eventually." , the stranger said with visible disappointment, "Still if you insist on confronting this being I can tell you this bit of information. The Society believes that the entity came to Manhattan inside a host from the Southside Youth Center roughly three years ago."

With that the communication abrubtly cut-off and David Xanatos got the distinct feeling that his superior was not cleared to divulge that particular piece of information to him. After silently thanking this mysterious person he picked up the phone and immediatly dialed Detective Maza's phone number. It ringed three times before it was finally picked up but it wasn't Elisa Maza's voice who greeted him on the other end.

"Yes?" Goliath asked over the phone with a bit of discomfort in his voice.

"Goliath you must wake up Detective Maza immediatly." , Xanatos said with an edge to his voice, "I have reason to believe Freddy knows of our precautions and might be able to neutralize them."

The only reply he got at the other end was the thunk of the reciever hitting the ground and the sound of large, heavy footfalls going away from it. Deciding that it was being taken care of at Maza's apartment he hung up and began to call the apartment of one Matt Bluestone.

***************************************************************************

*

Elisa Maza's Apartment, 9:30 p.m.

"Elisa!!" Goliath yelled as he raced into the bedroom in search of the only human member of his clan.

He had been on edge ever since he had first heard of these killings from 

Elisa three days ago and had been worried that a man depraived enough to do what this killer had done might decide to add her to his hitlist. The news he had recieved tonight only confirmed his fears as he learned that this being was not only supernatural in nature but also attacked his victims when they were most vulnerable. From that moment on he had watched Elisa like a hawk, never leaving her side for more than a moment. When he had heard the phone ringing a few moments earlier he had been tempted to simply ignore it in favor of watching his friend but now he was glad that he had answered it. The knowledge that this evil force might be able to render his protection useless sent chills down his spine and now drove him to insure that the strong woman in the next room was still safe. Looking at her bed from the doorway he could see nothing immediatly different from what he had seen before but he had long ago learned that in this new age nothing is as it appears.

Reaching out he flicked the lightswitch up with the tip of his talon and then looked back to the bed to see if the newly lightened scene had changed his earlier perceptions. Nothing seemed to have changed except that Elisa had rolled over onto her side, perhaps as a sign that she wanted to get away from the light. Whether or not this meant that the evil entity had taken hold he did not know but he did know he had to awaken Elisa immediatly. Carefully he walked over to the side of the bed, to wake her if she was asleep or to inform her of the situation if she was awake.

"Elisa you must wake up!" , he declared loudly as he reached over to 

shaked her awake, "Freddy knows of our precautions! Elisa, please wake 

up!"

Goliath shook her again and again, each time harder than before, hoping that he was not to late to save her. Suddenly Elisa sprung to her feet causing him to back up in surprise before noticing that she was still asleep and completely unaware of his prescence. Unfortunatly before he could do anything about it Elisa's sleeping form delivered an uppercut with more force than should have been possible for a woman of her size. Frozen by shock Goliath didn't block it in time and it connected with his jaw sending him hard into the wall opposite the door. Momentarily stunned he soon recovered as he saw Elisa run from the room with great speed and took off in quick pursuit. Not willing to wait to see what Freddy had in store for her he tackled her to the ground hoping to be able to pin her there until he could devise a method of awakening her. No sooner though did they hit the ground then Elisa arched her hip up bucking him off her and onto what was once a coffee table. Looking back he saw her get up apparently none the worse for wear and ready to start anew with the struggle. Unfortunatly even he realized that so long as Elisa was in the entity's grasp any attempts to restrain her would do more harm then good. That left him with one puzzling question:

How could he free her from his grasp?


	5. Unusual Dreams

"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email : rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

Elisa Maza's Mind, Dream Plain, 9:29 p.m

What the hell!? Elisa thought to herself as she looked at the environment around her with uneasy glances.

Her mind was a fog at the moment, unable to tell her where she was or how she had gotten there in the first place. All about her the terrain was unusual, trees that looked like green lollipops and collumns of stone seemed to pop up out of nowhere without any tell-tale signs at the base of how it was formed. Carefully she gave her head a good shake or two to try and clear the fog from her head and jog a few memories that might help her. In a way her desire for clues as to her current predicament was fulfilled but not in the way that she had been aiming for at all. Her clothes felt funny and distinctly unfamiliar from her usual jeans and a T-shirt she wore to work and just about everywhere else. Looking down at herself she saw the reason for the unfamiliar sensations when instead of seeing her usual clothing she found herself wearing some sort of martial arts gui. It was a combination of orange and blue with orange being the dominant color by far since the blue only made up the undershirt. Just then she was overcome by a sense of familiarity, as though he had seen clothes like this before, but was fairly certain that she had never worn them herself. Unfortunatly just as quickly as it had emerged the sense of familiarity disappeared leaving her with only her own reasoning skills to help out of the current predicament.

Well no sense just standing around like some stoned idiot. , Elisa thought to herself as she looked around the area, Might as well get a good look at myself before I go off exploring.

Eventually she spotted a nearbye lake and within a few moments was looking down at her reflection in disappointment for reasons other than a lack of new information. Her image was pretty much the same as she had seen earlier when she had looked at herself but now she had an unbiased look at her hair and she grimaced. Her hair was a mess and it spiked out at random spots as far as inch in some places. Carefully rubbing her right hand through it she could feel a few spots where it had gotten tangled up but otherwise it was remarkably clean. 

As clean as hair can get without shampoo or a decent hairdresser anyway! she thought sarcastically as she tried to smooth out a few of the more pronounced spikes.

Other than the revelation of the locks there wasn't much new to be discovered about her appearance other than the fact that she was a bit more muscular than she remembered herself to be. She was nowhere near any of those Miss Universe bodybuilders in appearance but she could almost see a few veins beneath the surface. Turning around she began to move away from the lake to see what else was in the area when she began to hear a bubbling sound coming from the lake. It was something like what you would normally here from a boiling pot but she knew that couldn't be the case since water couldn't spontaneously boil in the space of a few seconds. Still her nagging curiousity got the better of her and she turned back to the lake to see what was making it boil. When she set her eyes on the lake she found that it wasn't the entire lake that was boiling but instead just a small portion of it right at the edge where she had been a few moments before. Cautiously she approached the bubbling circle in the lake, peeking over the edge as far as she could see in the hopes that might be able to see beneath the surface to see the cause of it all. Step by step she came closer to the edge but the bubbling water was still distorting what lay beneath the surface. With one final step she reached the exact spot where she had been when inspecting her appearance but she was given no spare seconds to do it again as the water exploded outward. Momentarily blinded by the water she was caught completely unaware as something slammed into her jaw sending her flying away easily a few dozen feet. With jarring swiftnes she came to a stop as she impacted into the surface of one of the pillars of stone.

For a few moments her vision was little more then a blurry mix of colors not unlike a childs fingerpainting masterpiece. Her hearing wasn't much better since her ears seemed to be filled with a kind of cotton that just wouldn't come out. Despite this she could hear someone laughing just a few feet in front of her, a rasping gravelling laugh that seemed distinctly familiar in a way that chilled her soul. In a few moments though her hearing began to improve and the laugh lost the rasping quality which only left behind the voice that reminded her of her drill instructor at the police academy. Looking up she saw that she had come face to face with an enourmous bald man with a mustache and muscles the size of her head. He was dressed in some kind of body armor that was obviously designed for the purpose of showing off the brutes physique for intimidation purposes. He was looking down at her with an evil glint in his eyes that left no doubt in her mind that he had been the one that had nailed her before. Slowly she wrenched herelf from the side of the pillar but her body was still numb from the blow and it would take a few minutes to get her strength back. The best thing she could do now would be to get this brute talking and hope he was the type of bully that liked the sound of his own voice. 

"Okay big guy, you got me pretty good with that one." , she said as she watched him carefully for another attack, "Howsabout you give me a name to go with the fist?"

"The name's Nappa you little low-class runt, second strongest Saiyan in the known galaxy and right now your worst nightmare!!" Nappa replied with a yell as he fired another punch in her direction.

Reacting instantly she jumped to the side as fast as she could to avoid the blow since her arms were still too weak to block it. Unfortunatly she reacted a few seconds to late and was hit with a glancing blow to her side sending her back into the stone pillar but this time going a little deeper. On the plus side she didn't stay imbedded in the stone pillar but on the bad side she could barely hear the customary sound one heard right before an apartment building collapsed. Not entirely knowing which way was the proper way to jump she decided to pick one at random and hoped she didn't wind up feeling crushed as a result. Coiling her legs she surged foreward at breakneck speed hoping to be able to get out of the range of the pillar before it could hit her. Just then she sensed something ahead of her so she took a quick turn to the right to avoid it and was rewarded with a surprised 'wha?' that probably came from Nappa. Any sound that might have followed were drowned out by a thunderous boom as the pillar hit the ground causing the earth to tremble. Uncertain as she was with her feet she was knocked to her hands and knees by the tremors but thankfully that was all. Her breaths came rapidly as she tried to suck in as much air as she could but all of a sudden she felt a sharp pain in her side and she could tell that she had probably bruised a few ribs. Slowly she got to her feet and looked behind her to see if there was any sign of the big brute that had caused most of her suffering up until this point. It was difficult to see much of the stone pillar with all the dirt it had thrown into the air but from what little she could see at the moment it looked like the guy was down for the count.

Before she could celebrate at all something rammed into her from behind causing her to scream in pain as her ribs once more took a powerful blow. She had only just finished screaming before something else plowed into her midsection forcing out all the remaining air leaving her on her knees trying to breath again. More out of the need to put a face to her pain than anything else Elisa turned her head upward to see the face of her attacker only too see a small man in white and yellow armor like the other one. This thug however didn't have huge muscles and looked kinda like those Ranger people that kids were watching nowerdays but with a spiky haircut that rivalled her own. Just then it came to her, as soon as she thought about that kids show she remembered all at once where she had seen these two strong-armed thugs before and who had been wearing a get up like hers. It had been a few weeks ago and Matt had invited her over to watch a few movies with him. Little had she known that they weren't going to be any Steven Segals or Antonio Banderases in it at all but instead some animated films that Matt called 'Anime style cartoon movies'. She hadn't really paid any serious attention to the movies for the most part since she had long ago grown out of that particular part of her childhood. Eventually though she found herself surprisingly looking at the screen for longer periods of time and actually reading the subtitles when a character spoke. By the time the last movie was halfway through she was enjoying herself quite a bit though she would never admit it to Matt face-to-face. The last film was based on a show called Dragon Ball Z which was, according to Matt, currently being dubbed into english by Bandai inc. It was from that movie that she recognised the two people who had attacked her, the big one Nappa before and this small one now.

Fortunatly I now know a helluva lot more than just their names! she thought to herself with a smile as she prepared to kick it into overdrive.

"Well done Kakarot! You managed to kill poor Nappa!" , the small warrior said with malevolant approval, "I'm afraid though that that's going to be your final victory though because I'm going to send you on a trip to the next dimension!"

"Don't bet on it Vegita!" Elisa replied with a grin that only got wider as the look of shock appeared on the saiyan midget's face.

Not waiting for a response she surged to her feet and delivered a powerful right uppercut that sent Vegita flying away. Firing her energy field to life she flew off after him like she had seen the hero Goku do in the movie when he fought an opponant of great power. In a way it was wierd to find herself flying at such great speed without the aide of Goliath but at the moment she was almost enjoying herself. If it wasn't for the fact that she was fighting for her life and that any single second of delay could kill her she would definitly be enjoying herself. Turning back to the task at hand she brought her fist back and prepared to let loose with a another strong punch that would send the former Saiyan Prince into the ground. Finally close enough she fired the punch down towards his stomach and right before it would have connected Vegita disappeared right before her eyes. About five seconds later she felt someone tackle her from behind but this time she was ready for them and immediatly bucked her hip up like a bronco and threw Vegita off before shutting down her energy feild and landing on the ground.

Looking around she tried to mimic what the character she was dressed as did when he was trying to locate an enemy that was moving too fast for him too see, hoping that she would be able to do the same. For a few seconds it seemed as though the chi-sensing ability was not a part of this package but then it slowly began to fade into focus. He was moving pretty quickly and she believed that she was only seeing where he had been rather than where he was and that could be a problem. Tightening her focus even more she searched for him and a split second later she sensed him right *behind* her! Quickly she darted foreward, rolled and came back to her feet before turning to face her enemy. When she looked to where she had previously been she saw him for only a split second before he disappeared again, moving too fast for her eyes to detect. Slipping back into her scanning state she searched for the energy of Vegita, hoping that this time she would recieve a little more warning and thus have time to counter attack. Unfortunatly if she was at the power level that Goku was at in the beginning when he fought the first saiyan Raditz she wasn't going to last very long. 

Minutes seemed to pass as she tried to locate her enemy but she was only able to sense him for brief moments before he would shoot off in another direction. This act was a bit at odds with how the cartoon character version had acted during a fight, usually Vegita couldn't wait to feel his fist make contact with an opponants face. This only seemed to add to the nagging sensation that had been at the back of her mind since this wierd surreal encounter had started. Something wasn't right here but try as she might she couldn't identify the problem, it was almost as if her mind was chasing the facts around inside her head but someone else had them and was playing 'keep away'. Not that she was in the ideal situation to ponder the situation with a killing machine zipping around her and looking for a weak spot in her defenses. Just then something clicked in her mind at the mention of a 'killing machine', something that made her think she was in even more trouble than she realized. Just then her chi-sense flared and he dove foreward just ahead a massive explosion that tore up the ground where she had been before.

"Wakey, wakey Kakarot! It's bad form to let your mind wander in the middle of a fight!" cackled Vegita's voice from behind her before he shot off again in another direction.

I have to end this quick before he gets tired of this and decides to finish me off! Elisa thought as she redoubled her efforts to lock on to her adversary.

For a while it looked as though she would have to rely on trying to anticipate where he would be next and getting there before him but just before hope ran out her mind clicked into crystal clear clarity. She knew where he was and where he was heading almost exactly and that meant she could set up a little surprise for him when he arrived. Quietly she followed his path in her mind, noting how long he stopped at any one spot and how fast he was going between stops. When all her estimates were done she gathered up her energy and spun around to face her target.

"KA_MEA_HA_MEA_HAAA!" she yelled and with a burst of light fired a beam of bright blue energy from the palms of her hands right into Vegita's path.

Of course he could have easily avoided the blast had he been going slower but at the speed he was going it would have been almost impossible to avoid the blast entirely. Which of course is exactly the way she had planned it to work before she attacked and smiled with satisfaction as the blast made contact. She could feel the saiyan prince trying to push her blast back but for every few inches he pushed it back she managed to get it one foot closer. Finally with everything he had left she gave one final push and watched as the blast overcame Vegita causing him to go on the same trip he had intend to send her on. Shutting down the beam she dropped her arms from their firing positions and relaxed as she let her guard down. With nothing around attacking her there was no longer any reason to be so tense and alert so she could afford to let herself go. Just then she thought she heard the sound of someone groaning and almost let out a groan of her own as she turned back to where Vegita had been before she had defeated him. Elisa almost let her jaw drop as he saw a smoldering head try to right itself, she wasn't completely certain but in the Anime movie there was never anything left after someone was sent to the next dimension. Curious and more than a little afraid she slowly advanced on the groaning head, dread began to fill her as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Oooohhhh, that bitch sure packs a punch!" , groaned the head with a familiar scratchy voice, "An' why the hell couldn't I tell what she was going to do next!?"

With visible exertion the head finally righted itself and for the first time Elisa could see the face of the object that was causing her so much fear. It was a man's face but it had completely different bone structures and eyes than Vegita and it didn't take a second before she matched them to someone she recognised. Suddenly everything she had seen, felt and heard since she got to this place made sense it a very wrong way. Almost immediatly she began to try every trick she had ever heard of for waking yourself up but nothing worked. Not that she had ever really expected it to work with him around but instincts ingrained into her very being had demanded that she try. When the burnt head finally noticed her she knew she was in trouble and his sick sadistic laugh confirmed those fears with the certainty of the grave.

"Nice going bitch!!" , Freddy said as his head began to rise up into the air, "Nice blow job but you're going to haveta to better than that!!"

Almost immediatly his head began to scream as if he was on fire, writhing and twisting as though it still had a body. Then , bit by bit, she began to see mounds of flesh beging to grow out of the burnt man's neck. Second by second it game flowing out like lava, filling the space beneath the head like it was filling an invisible mold. A minute or two later it was done but thankfully before she had a chance to see too much crimson and green flames covered his body before becoming his familiar sweater and pants. Then with a little fancy showboating he seemed to pluck his dusty old hat out of the air and placed it on his head. Feeling an attack was immanent she took on a defensive posture and waited for him to make the first move. To this Freddy simply smiled and wagged a finger in her general direction all the while laughing softly under his breath.

"Unh, unh uuhhnn bitch! You're a little too spunky for my liking so I'm gonna go find someone else to play with!" , Krueger said tauntingly as he looked her straight in the eyes with a look of pure evil, "Care to guess who?!"

Without saying another word he shot into the air and streaked towards the horizon like a mad comet and left Elisa behind to piece together what he meant by that last question. Frantically she tried to deduce what he was taunting her with and who he could possibly be after next now that he was through playing with her. She knew that the clan was safe since they were awake and watching the Xanatos' and Matt while they slept. So what was it he could be after? Just then the entire area shook with the force of an eight point three on the rictor scale causing her to almost lose her balance completely. Off in the distance she could see an enourmous cloud of smoke shooting up into the sky and immediatly realized that what had caused the ground to shake was the mother of all explosions. Not even stopping to debate the wisdom of rushing headlong into something she knew nothing about she fired up the energy field that was a part of her dream self and flew off towards ground zero of the blast.

***************************************************************************

The Real World, 9:50p.m

Goliath's mind was reeling as he forced his wings to give him the speed necessary with the form of Elisa who at the moment was *flying* away from him with no visible signs of propulsion. He had tried to keep her contained in her apartment for as long as he could in the hope that she would eventually come to but after an unexpected burst of speed she had managed to crash through her skylight window. From there it had been only a few seconds before she had somehow taken flight and he took off after her with all the speed his wings could muster. Unfortunatly due to his size he was not the fastest flier in the clan and the only reason he was even able to keep up with his friend was thanks to his large wingspan. Still he wasn't going to be able to keep this pace up for much longer and Elisa showed no signs of slowing down or even preparing to do so a short time from now. He would not give up though, he would follow her for as long as he was able in the hopes that he would be able to save his clanmate from whatever grizzly fate Freddy had in store for her. Just then he heard his earpiece begin to crackle with static indicating that someone was trying to get in touch with him. Keeping his eyes firmly on Elisa he reached down and after taking the earpiece from his pouch placed it in his ear. 

"Yes?" he asked pointedly since he was a little angry for this distraction no matter how small it was in reality.

"Goliath! Something is happening to Matt, he's jumping all over the place light racketball from hell!" , Lex replied with great concern as sounds of a scuffle could be heard in the background, "We're trying to hold him down but everytime we get close he just throws us across the room!"

"It's Freddy's work, he has Elisa under his control as well." , Goliath declared as his concerned went up a few notches, "Do what you can to prevent him from leaving his apartment, I will try and get there as soon as I have woken Elisa."

Just then the sound of glass shattering filled his earpiece and he realised that his advice had come just a few moments too late. Shaking his head to rid his mind of the fear that was beginning to manifest itself he quickly assessed the situation as well as any options he had at his disposal. Now that Matt was gone and apparently flying the same as Elisa was it is possible that they might wind up at the same spot before Krueger decided to kill them. If that was the case then there was chance that they might be able to set a trap for the monster and rescue their two friends at the same time. Thinking quickly he tried to discern what general direction Elisa was heading in and then what direction Matt would mosty likely be coming from in order to deduce what the point of convergence would be. When he finally came up with an answer he grinned a bit in satisfaction as he determined that their most likely convergence point would be central park. It was an ideal place for an ambush since it was not only close to the castle but also because it provided them with the one element certain to wake up both of the detectives.

Quickly adjusting the radio gear to transmit instead of recieve he began to lay the lines of his trap.

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	6. Tragedy Strikes

"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email : rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

Dream Plane, 9:50p.m

You have *got* to be kidding me! Elisa thought to herself as she came up on the site of the blast and saw the three on one battle going on down below her.

While she had been flying towards the source of the blast she had tried to determine what Freddy was up to and what she would find when she arrived there but she never expected to find a mishmash of Dragonball Z characters fighting each other. Not that she had any real idea of what to expect in any case but she had been almost certain that Freddy wouldn't have decided to use characters from the same TV show as he did against her a little while ago. The three aggressors she didn't have all that much information on but she was pretty sure that the two teenage looking ones were androids 17 and 18 but the third one was unfamiliar to her. The third warrior looked kinda like Picollo but he had aqua blue skin and extremely exagerrated muscles which made the round thing on his shoulders look more like a pimple than a head. As for the one they were fighting against it was clear that whoever it was was stuck in the role of Krillin and was getting the crap kicked out of him. That was not all that surprising given that according to what she had seen of the cartoon the little bald guy was the weakest of the Z fighters. That kinda got her wondering how he had lasted this long against such powerhouses considering the supposed differences in power levels and obvious size disadvantages. Could this be some sort of elaborate trap for her? Was she supposed to fly down there to help the litle guy only to be stabbed in the back later? Whatever the case was she would have to decide quick because she had a feeling that her cueball-head comrade was about five steps away from being buried.

Ah what the hell! After all this *is* just a dream and that means I can make whatever I want happen here. she thought to herself as she brought up her energy field to maximum burn and rocketed down to the battlefield.

Not even bothering to announce her prescence the way the characters in the movie did she instead went right to work and delivered a devesatating right hook to the jaw of the big blue guy. This surprised her bit since she had thought that Krueger would have made these guys a little tougher than this but disregarded it as irrelavent and took up a defensive position between the Krillin character and his adversaries. With two people to deal with the androids seemed a little hesitant to press the attack but she doubted that would last very long. Looking back she tried to measure up the state of her potential ally and was happy to see that he seemed to be reasonably alright despite the slight tremors in his limbs. Returning her gaze to the two androids she noticed that the big blue guy had gotten back to his feet and was rejoining the others. It would be only moments before they would start attacking again and she had to know if the guy was in as good a shape as he appeared to be.

"Hey, you still up for a fight kid?" she asked without moving her head.

"Elisa?" the voice exclaimed in unbridled surprise.

"Matt?!" , she exclaimed in reaction as her head whipped around to see the face of her partner stuck on the bald Krillin's head, "What the hell are you doing in my dream?"

"Your dream?! This is my dream and I'm definitly going to have stop having those extra spicy tacoes before going to bed!" , Matt replied as he continued to stare incredulously at her, "What are you doing here?"

Before she could reply to the question the goon squad was upon them and they were forced to postpone the Q&A session until later. Immediatly taking off into the air she hoped to be able to draw the bigger one away from Matt since he seemed to be the biggest threat of the three. Unfortunatly when she looked down to see if her plan had worked she found that she had instead attracted the attention of the two androids instead. Frowning at the change in circumstances she immediatly began to increase her speed, zigging and zagging all over the sky in an attempt to confuse her two pursuers. Unfortunatly they were apparently not so easily manipulated as they tried to outflank her by zipping ahead of her and then flying towards the point in the air where she would cross a few seconds from now. Knowing that there was no way that she would be able to stop in time to avoid the oncoming attack she decided to do the only thing she could do given the situation. 

I just pray that this works! Elisa thought to herself as she closed her eyes and pushed herself to fly even faster than before.

It was extremely difficult, she could feel the strain it was putting on her body and was sorely tempted to slow down to a more comfortable speed but pressed on instead. For what seemed like forever she seemed to be hurtling through the air at a fantastic speed but then suddenly she heard the tell-tale sounds of a collision behind her and turned onto her back to see what had happened. It was difficult to see her two pursuers with the distance between them growing larger and larger with every passing moment but it was clear that her plan had worked perfectly. Calling up all her will power she forced her body into a sharp U-turn and streaked back the way she had come just a few moments earlier. From what she could tell androids 17 and 18 were still in the process of gathering themselves and that gave her a window of oppourtunity to pull off something daring. One option was simply to ram into the both of them and bring them back to the ground where her only back-up was. That made the most sense since neither of them had much of a chance against their respective opponants on their own despite that little bit of good luck that she had been having. The other option was to do something unexpected and use a energy technique of one of the other 'Dragonball Z' characters in the hopes that it would have the same effect as her Kameameaha wave had on Freddy/Vegita earlier. That was not quite as good an idea since Krueger would probably be expecting such a move and just dodge it before it could make contact. That might leave her open and was definitly not something that she could afford given the fate of the madman's past victims. Whatever her decision was going to be she had to make a decision quick or the two teenage androids were going to make it for her.

Well here goes nothing! Elisa thought with a ruefull grin as she realized what a stupid decision she was making.

Flying straight towards the two androids she brought her two hands up and locked them in into a closeline position like she had seen professional wrestlers do on TV and waited for the immenant impact. It didn't take long as her arms made contact with something that felt like two lead pipes at the speed at which she was travelling and almost took her arms off in the process. Gritting her teeth she forced her arms to stay firm until the two androids went in the direction she wanted them to go in. The pain was intense but eventually gave way as both androids were sent plummetting towards the ground where they made one big impact crater when they landed. Not waiting for her arms to feel better or for the androids to get back on their feet she immediatly brought her energy to its maximum and began to let loose a meteor shower of blasts on the crater the androids had made. Again and again she fired down into the crater until it seemed literally like a lake of golden energy, pulsing and glowing like hot magma. Waiting until the timing was right she stopped her barrage and raised her hands high above her head where little bolts of energy danced between them. This little maneuver was going to take just about everything she had left but if she did it just right she would at the very least put the androids out of commision long enough to help Matt with his problem. Slowly but surely a small sphere of energy began to form between her hands, not growing at all despite the energy she was pouring into it but glowing brighter with every passing moment. Within sixty seconds it was glowing brighter than a hundred headlights and she herself felt as though she were going to shatter with the strict discipline she was forced to employ. To keep all that energy confined in such a small object was nothing short of a trial of determination but she refused to waste this one chance to end her half of the fight and help Matt.

It's n-now or NEVER!! , Elisa thought to herself as he stopped pouring the energy inside of her into the sphere above her head, "Masenko-HA!"

Then, with effort equal to lifting double her own weight, she threw the sun like sphere down towards the lake of energy an watched as it was absorbed into the body of light like a raindrop. For a few moments there was no reaction and she feared that she might have performed the move wrong or that Freddy was smarter than she had given him credit for and had somehow blocked the move before it could finish. However when the lake of energy suddenly changed from a bright golden yellow to a deep blood red a smile of satisfaction blossomed onto her face as she watched the light show below. The lake for a moment simply shimmered with its red glow for a few minutes but then without warning it pushed downwards towards the bottom of the crater where she hoped the androids were recieving the brunt of the attack. When it seemed as though it could go no further the energy that had filled the crater exploded with so massive a force that it threw debris everywhere. Covering her face so as not to get any debris in her eyes and thus blind her she waited until she felt the explosion had finally subsided before lowering her arms to get a good look at what the destruction she had wrought. She smiled with fulfillment as she saw the sparking circuits and severed body parts which were scattered about the crater in various states of damage. 

Two down and one to go. She thought to herself as she looked around to see where Matt and the big blue guy had gone in all the confusion.

She was somewhat surprised to see that Matt seemed to be holding his own against the big brute as he managed to avoid most of the attacks being sent his way and sending back a few of his own. This was unusual since the character he was portraying was one of the relatively weaker warriors of that show and certainly not a match for someone who was easily six times his size. Still this was a dream world where anything could happen so it wasn't impossible for her partner to stray from the stereotypes he had been dealt and come up with a few surprises of his own. Gently floating down to the ground she decided to wait and let Matt finish off this last one rather than butting in and scarring his masculine pride. Besides he seemed to have things well in hand so the best thing she could probably do right now would be to just sit back and enjoy the show. It was actually getting quite good with Matt/Krillin getting it some good shots and steadily pushing the big lug farther and farther back with every blow. Just then she thought she heard a cackle coming from behind her and quickly whipped around as fear began to bubble to the surface as she tried in vain to see where it was coming from. She then realized that on crucial plaer in this whole fiasco had still not shown himself to his victims or taken a more prominant role in this scenario. Given the gruesome remains left of each of Freddy's victims he didn't seem the type to restrain his bloodlust for this long. The fact that he wasn't visible or taking on the role of the big blue guy concerned her greatly, it made her wonder if he wasn't just playing with them. What was he up to? Where was he hiding? All those questions vanished from her mind as she heard the sounds of the big blue guy screaming in pain causing her to refocus her attention on the fight going on in front of her.

Whoa! she thought in amazement as she saw the damage done to Matt's opponant.

The Big Blue Guy was just standing there with his arms trembling at his sides and the rest of him not moving an inch. The most likely reason for this was the fact that right in the center of his chest was a hole big enough for Bronx to jump through with ease. It was so big that there was only about an inch or two of flesh present on either side of his body connecting the upper half to the lower half. There were no signs of the internal organs which would have been there had he been a real person and for that she was eternally greatful. Given Krueger's tastes she had been afraid that he would give them a disgustingly realistic battle with dismemberment and gore the likes of which she had only seen in slasher/horror films. If that had happened she would most certainly lost her lunch and tossed her cookies all over this dreamscape if that was even possible. Watching the monster for a few moments more she was thankful when he finally fell to the ground and lay there motionless aside from a few death spasms. Looking over to Matt she half expected to see him there smiling with a look of manly satisfaction on his face but instead she saw a look of concern that matched her own. Walking slowly over to him she tried to deduce what he was so concerned about since she was quite sure that he hadn't quite caught on to what was going on at the moment.

"What's wrong Matt? The guy's down for the count!" she declared as he tried to get his attention.

"That's just it Elisa, Garlic Junior shouldn't be down for the count like this." , Matt said as he looked up and stared at her with a puzzled look on his face, "In the Dragonball Z series this guy had immortality thanks to the wish he made to the eternal dragon Shenron."

"So if this was the real Garlic Junior his body would just heal itself and..." she said as she continued his train of thought for him.

"...And he would be back up on his feet laughing at us for thinking that he could be defeated so easily." , Matt finished as he looked around at the landscape in the hopes of finding a clue that would help them solve this quandry, "So what's the deal here? Has Krueger given up?"

"You mean you knew that Krueger was behind this even though you've never seen him?" Elisa exclaimed in surprise as she stared at her partner.

"Elisa C'mon! Give me a little credit okay!" , Matt replied as he walked towards her, "I may not have ever seen the guy face to face but I know when my dreams are being manipulated. I mean, Garlic Junior and the Androids weren't even a part of the same saga and I definitley wouldn't have chosen to be Krillin in this little dream of mine. Speaking of which why did you wind up being Goku? Since this is most likely my dream shouldn't I be in the leading role?"

Amused at the way he nitpicked about the inconsistancies in the way their surroundings were set-up Elisa replied "Maybe it's a reflection of your inner belief that you feel inferior to me?"

Even Matt had to crack a smile at that and for a few minutes they simply looked at each other with similar stupid smiles on their faces. It was not to last however as mere moments later the ground directly behind them exploded with such force that they were sent flying high into the air before crashing back to the ground. It took Elisa a few moments to get her head together but when she did she turned around to look for the source of the blast. To say that what she found was not encouraging would be the mother of all understatements and shocked her enough to render her speechless. There standing atop a mound of rubble was alien figure with an ivory colored body, decorated in certain areas with bits of glossy purple covering the shoulders and the top of the head. A long tail swung back and forth in an almost playful manner, like a jungle cat who had 

cornered his prey and was waiting for the right moment to strike. Unfortunately neither herself or Matt would be so fortunate as to face some dumb animal because standing confidently before them was one of the most dangerous beings in the entire 'Dragonball Z' universe.

"I trust I got your attention monkey?" Taunted the tyrant known as Frieza.

"Oh crap!! We're in for it now!!" Matt said with barely restrained fear in his voice.

This was possibily the worst thing that could happen at that moment because according to facts from the show this Frieza character was supposed to be able to destroy a planet. While it's true that there had been far more powerful characters in the series this one was the best match for Krueger since both he and Frieza had a sadistic streak with no apparent end. Still there was still a chance that they could pull off the impossible so there was no reason to get hysterical just yet. When they had both been beaten senseless and could barely tell what was going on around them, that was the time to panic and beg for mercy. Not waiting for the banter that was expected to follow an opening line like that Elisa charged through the air towards Frieza with an energy bomb in her right hand ready to be rammed down the pale-faces throat. The best chance that they had to beat Freddy in his newest form was to keep him off balance by delivering blow after earth-shattering blow. By doing this they might be able to keep him from focusing and thereby mounting any sort of offense that would turn the tide of battle. She smiled to herself as the distance between her and it seemed certain that her attack would make contact but just as she was about to throw her energy bomb something rammed into her stomach knocking all the air out. For a moment she couldn't understand what had happened until she looked at where Frieza was and saw the image dissapate as if it were smoke. Looking down and to her right she saw Frieza's smiling face with Freddy's eyes glowing with all their malevolant glee as he soaked up the pain she was feeling.

Not wanting to admit defeat this early in the game she shot off with a massive burst of speed away from Frieza in the hopes that she would have a few seconds to attack before the chalk skinned butcher realized what was happening. Unfortunately no sooner did she come to a complete stop then another devastating blow was delivered to her back right on the spine. For what seemed like forever she seemed to be paralyzed as she fell towards the solid ground below her, unable to move or think or do anything that might improve her situation. Then as the ground seemed impossibly close she felt some feeling return to her body and with a strength that seemed pitiful in light of the obstacle she faced she tried to slow her descent. However all the effort did was lessen the force of the landing from one that would have killed her to one that threatened to render her unconscious. It felt like every bone in her body had been shattered but she could still move her limbs which meant that it was just lacerations and planet sized bruises she was feeling. Fighting past the pain she just barely managed to push herself onto her back which allowed her the option of looking around to see if any hope remained for her to utilize in her struggle. Unfortunately there was none, all that she saw was Frieza slowly floating down to the ground with a victorious smile on his face. When he landed he began to stalk towards her, relishing every moment of her suffering like it were a drug to him, fully confident that he could enjoy it all at his leisure. Determined to go out fighting she forced her limbs to move, first her arms to get her sitting upright and then her feet as she tried to plant them on the ground. This only seemed to amuse Frieza/Freddy further as the smile on his face grew bigger and bigger until in seemed as though his face was just a smile with eyes. By the time he had reached her she was on one knee with the other foot firmly planted on the ground while the other refusing to respond to her command to move.

"You put up a good fight sweet meat but this game is *over*." came 

Freddy's burnt voice from Frieza's lips.

"I don't *think* so Krueger!!" , came Matt's voice from behind Frieza, 

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON FIRE!!!"

Frieza turned away from Elisa to face the oncoming blast and for a few seconds Freddy's attention was focused on something else. Taking advantage of this distraction Maza pushed with all the remaining strength she had and jumped high up into the air until Frieza was no bigger than a action figure. She could see the thin beam of light shooting towards the form of the dream murderer and she prayed that it would make contact. If it did maybe Krueger would lose interest in them and they could awaken to the real world where they could get together with the clan and work out a new plan. Hopefully this time they would be able to come up with something other than staying awake for a week straight because she doubted she could last that long. That is why she focused on the action going on down below her praying with each second that passed by that it would be over in the next few minutes. Then all of a sudden the beam made contact and a massive explosion ripped through the air sending dust and bits of dirt everywhere temporarily blinding her. When her vision cleared all that was left of the place where Krueger had been was an impressively large crater with bits and pieces of something smoking at the bottom. She strained her eyes to determine what that something was but could not readily identify, the only thing that she could determine for certain was that it was white. For a moment she allowed herself to hope that those bits of white were all that remained of Freddy/Frieza but her common sense soon kicked in and she tried to locate the butcher before it was too late.

She turned all about as she descended back towards the ground below but for the life of her she could not see any sign of the dream stalker nor could she sense him with her dream body's abilities. That only caused the fear in her heart to grow with every passing moment as she waited for the madman to make his move. When she finally landed on the ground she could see that Matt was having similar feelings of apprehension as he looked about for the predator lurking just out of sight. It was uncomfortable not being able to see the enemy that she knew was nearbye but it was not an unfamiliar feeling given her years on the force. The discomfort came from the fact that unlike the real world this one could be altered in the blink of an eye into something she was not prepared to deal with. Back in the waking world she knew that what she saw was the way things were going to stay but in this case nothing was absolute and everything was in question. For all she knew Freddy might suddenly appear in front of her as tall as a skyscraper or change the world around her into some warped version of reality. That is what left her uneasy and made her wish that the demon would just show himself and get this over with. At least then she would no longer be straining to look in every direction at once while at the same time trying to use the abilities her dream form gave her. The silence was what was causing her to be afraid now and suddenly she realized that that was exactly what Freddy was trying to do right then, push her fear as high as it could go before he attacked. With her in such a state any defense she tried to mount to stop him would be sloppy and ineffective in protecting herself from his many blows. Closing her eyes she filtered out all the outside stimulus until all that she could hear was the sound of her own heart beating as well as her own thoughts. When she could be sure that all exterior stimulus had been removed she began to decrease the number of stray thoughts she had until all that was left was the beating of her heart. She had learned how to do this from the instructor who had taught her the martial arts at the police academy but had rarely used it after she had graduated.

Sure is coming in handy now though. Elisa thought to herself as she felt the fear slip away now that there was nothing to fuel it.

That was when it happened, like a beacon of light her energy sensing ability registered a truckload of energy coming at her at high speed and it was undoubtably evil. Preparing herself for the onrush of sensory information she opened her eyes and saw exactly what she expected to see, Freddy/Frieza streaking towards her with a look that spoke of impending pain for her. Deciding it was time to stop reacting and to start acting she charged foreward to meet him with one arm raised to block while the other was cocked back to deliver a devastating punch to the solar plexus. She could see the momentary surprise that was on his face, no doubt he was unaccustomed to his prey doing anything other than trying to run away from him. Well if she had anything to say about it there were tonnes more surprises where that came from and he would hate them all. Firing her punch foreward like a gunshot she fully expected to make contact with his face and watch him happily fly in the opposite direction but instead of hitting something she suddenly found her arms pinned where they were. In fact all her foreward motion had come to a stop and despite all her efforts to move she remained as still as a statue. Only her eyes could move of their own accord but that did her little good in her present situation unless something miraculous happened in the next few moments.

"Hang on Elisa!" Matt yelled from somewhere behind her as she continued to try and break free of Freddy/Frieza's hold.

Suddenly she was free and thought for a moment that Matt had managed to get Freddy off of her but that idea was disproved as mere seconds later she recieved a hard elbow shot right to the spine. Elisa fell to the ground like a tonne of bricks and despite her best efforts she could only force her limbs to move in small jerking motions thanks to the paralyzing blow. Turning her head she tried to see what was going on and soon wished that she had just stayed a stunned heap on the ground when she saw the scene being played out before her. Matt had engaged Frieza/Freddy in battle and despite the fact that Bluestone was giving it his all it was obvious to any observer that the bald detective was sorely outmatched. Almost all of the blows he sent Freddy's way missed and the few that managed to connect did no damage whatsoever. The madman in character's clothing merely grinned as he retaliated with blow after merciless blow, each one almost enough to knock Matt down for good. Despite the pain that he was no doubt feeling her partner fought on harder each time he got up from a devastating blow. It was if he was supremely confident in the belief that he would eventually win as long as he held on for a few more minutes. After all that was the way that these cartoon shows went didn't they, the hero would get beaten time and time again and look like he was about to fall over but thanks to the sheer power of his will he would triumph. Unfortunately what Bluestone failed to realize was that this was no cartoon, it was real, and it had reason to follow the rules binding the fictional struggles of good and evil. He could very well die in this battle if she didn't get in there and help him but she couldn't for the life of her get to her feet. All she could do was lay there and watch Matt get pounded to within an inch of his life while the paralyses of the blow she had been dealt slowly wore off.

I have to keep trying!! Matt can't last much longer and if I don't get by the time that psycho from a horror movie finishes him off I'll be next!! Elisa thought to herself as she reknewed her efforts to get to her feet.

For all her determination it seemed for the longest time that her efforts were in vain but after what seemed like an eternity her limbs began to obey her commands. First she forced her arms to push herself off the ground and then she pulled one leg beneath her and then the other until she was on her hands and knees. The next part was going to be the hardest but she had to do it because with every passing moment she could hear Matt's time running out. Her legs felt like lead weights and her knees felt like jello but she refused to let her dream body's weaknesses get the better of her when she needed it the most. Eventually she managed to get to her feet but what she could do now that she was up was most definitley the question of the hour. It had taken tremendous effort to get to her feet and she was uncertain if she had much energy left to make a contribution to the fight but she had to try. Forcing the energy to raise her into the air she took stock of how the battle was proceeding and how much time she had before it would be too late to help her partner. Matt's situation had deteriorated and she was surprised that he was still on his feet but by the wobble in his knees she knew it would not be for much longer. Thrusting her right arm out and positioning the palm of her hand so that it was aimed at Frieza she began to build up the current of energy within her. It was a difficult process since well over half the energy she had left was being invested in keeping her aloft but she was determined to pull the big save for Matt like he had done for her when she was in a fix. 

She could feel the energy rising within her and despite the fact that it was going up at a highly accelerated rate she still pushed harder to get it up faster. Every second counted and she had precious few moments to waste if she was going to pull this off in time. More than a few times she felt as though she was going to faint but each time she managed to shake it off and focus on the task at hand. An eternity seemed to come and go while she prepared for her final stand but fate decided to shine on her because when she was finally finished he looked down to see Matt was still on his feet. Now that she had the energy ready for use she had to make sure that Bluestone was safe before she fired it. Unfortunately she only had a certain number of ways to warn Matt to get clear and all of them would let Frieza know at the same time that something was going to happen. In the end there was only choice but she hoped that her screaming the attack's name would give her normally red-haired detective enough time to get far enough away.

Taking careful aim she yelled "BIG BANG ATTACK---!!!!!!!!"

With the speaking of those words the collection of energy she held within her was fired down towards Frieza like fiery comet. Despite the fact that it was away Elisa continued to contribute energy to the blast in the hopes that it would be enough to stop Freddy for good this time. Even with this naieve hope she knew in the depths of her soul that the best she might be able to get with this was a chance to get the hell out of here. Maybe if they got far enough away from Frieza/Freddy they might be able to wake up and get the heck out of there but she wasn't liking the odds of that happening at the moment. In any case she was about to find out because the pondering had only taken a few seconds and in that time the blast was mere feet from Freddy who was just then turning around to see what was coming at him. Matt on the other hand had the benefit of looking in the right direction when she had fired the blast and decided to take full advantage of the distraction. With a blow that belied his size he rammed his fist right into Frieza's stomach knocking all the air from the lungs of tyrant. Satisfied that his masculinity had been proved Matt then concentrated on getting the hell out of there by leaping with all his remaining strength high into the air. It was the making of that decision at that moment that probably saved his life and he had ring side seats to see what would have happened to him if had had waited only a few moments more. It was like watching those old news reels of the testing of the first nuclear bomb out in the New Mexico desert. Only this time the mushroom cloud was much bigger and the amount of dust that was kicked up into the air was much larger. Both Elisa and Matt had to cover their faces to sheild themselves from the dirt and other debris that were kicked up into the air as a result. When it was over both were shocked and amazed at the impressive size of the crater that was left in the ground by the sheer force of the blast.

Elisa looked at her hand and thought Whoa!

Setting the act aside for the time being she settled herself back to the ground and immediately began to feel the effects of overextending herself as she found herself utterly drained. At the moment it was all she could do to stay on her feet and the fact that she could see no sign of Freddy/Frieza anywhere made her glad that her plan had worked. If Freddy had somehow managed to dodge that blast and escape she would be easily overcome by even the weakest of attacks. Her entire body felt like it had been pounded into mush and at the moment all she wanted to do was soak in a nice warm bubble bath. Yeah, that would feel nice and it would probably prevent her body from developing as many sores and cramps the next day. Looking around she could see Matt's minature form slowly getting to it's feet although he seemed to wobble a bit from the effort. Elisa cursed herself as she assumed that she had miscalculated somewhere and that Matt had caught at least some of the blast in his attempt to get clear. Still, the facty that he was still alive to begin with carried a lot of weight when it came to forgiving herself for the mistakes she may have made. Slowly and carefully she began to walk towards Matt so that they could come up with a plan of how to survive here until Goliath and the others found a way to wake them up. She had originally hoped that pain alone would be enough to wake a person up provided they were outside a specific radius of Freddy but that idea had gone down the dumper. Hopefully Matt had some ideas because if he didn't then they were in some seriously deep shit and it was only a matter of time before it all hit the fan.

"Hey Matt! You all right?" Elisa asked once she got in range of her battered partner.

"I-If you take into ..... account my bruised ribs and concussion I suppose you could say that I'm okay." , Matt replied as he turned around to face her, "Still I guess I'm better off than Freddy is thanks to you. Thanks for the save partner."

"Yeah well you owe me for this Bluestone and don't think that I'll forget it." Elisa said with a grin since she had said it in a manner that made it sound as though they did this every day. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, any idea on how to get the hell out of here?" Matt asked as he looked about for any sign of an exit.

"None. I had kinda hoped that we would wake up once Freddy wasn't around to mess with us but it appears that even after being blown up he has a way of keeping us here." Elisa replied with a frustrated frown as she continued to examine their surroundings.

"So you're basically saying that we're trapped here until he decides to let us go?" Matt asked in a voice that clearly told her he did not like that scenario at all.

"Looks like it but I'm hoping that Goliath and the others will think of something before Freddy decides to make another appearance." , Elisa replied as she tried to reassure Matt, "Until then we just have to try to keep our distance from Freddy and hope that we get rescued before we wind up as a pile of ashes."

"Not gonna happen sweet meat!" came a voice from behind her and almost as a reflex she whirled around to find the source.

Standing behind them on a small rocky outcropping was Frieza/Freddy and he had a distinctly unhappy look on his face. Most likely that was due to the fact that almost half his body was covered in burns, bruises and cuts which made it clear that he had been in one hell of a fight. It struck her as odd that he would have retained this body given that he had already demonstrated the ability to heal his dream form or jump to a new one in the blink of an eye. Had she really hurt him with that big bang attack or was he just doing this to trick them? Shaking her head mentally she decided that she didn't want to stick around to find out one way or another and immediately turned to get a running start before taking to the skies. Matt obviously had figured out what she planned on doing because he was already a few feet off the ground and climbing. She had just reached the point where Matt had roughly taken off when suddenly she felt a sharp spike in power coming from where Frieza/Freddy was standing. Daring to look back and see what he was planning she was struck with horror as she gazed upon the small sphere of energy that Freddy held in his hand. It was just barely the size of a ping-pong ball but the energy contained within it was more massive than anything she had felt so far. Seeing that he had gotten her attention Freddy looked at her and smiled in a way that made her fear almost double at what it seemed to imply. One of them was going to die soon. Either she or Matt would be dead in the next few moments and she was certain it was going to be her. After all she had been the one that had done the most damage to him so she would represent the greatest threat to this sicko's killing spree in Manhattan.

It was at that point that the entire substance of reality seemed to slow to a crawl, seconds seemed to go on forever and the motion of her body slowed down to almost nothing. Even though she was feeling completely drained she forced her body to twist to the side as fast as it could in the hopes that she could avoid the blast. With every second however it seemed as though she wasn't moving anywhere's near fast enough and she was only wasting her time. When the small sphere of energy finally flew from Freddy/Frieza's hand her mind drifted back to all the things she had not done in her life, all the people she had met but would never see again. Her parents, without whom she would never have become the dedicated detective she was today. Derrick and Beth, the two people who she had played with and experienced life with step by step the entire way. The Clan, who had opened her mind to so many possibilities and showed her that there was more to the world than she ever thought possible. She would never see them again because in just a few seconds she would be dead and all that she would have waiting for her would be oblivion. As the small ball of energy got closer and closer her mind was fighting with her heart on what to do in these last few moments. Her mind wanted to close her eyes against the light the energy ball was giving off but more than that it wanted to block out the source of its own destruction. Her heart on the other hand refused to give up even in these trying times, it wanted to face the end of her existance with eyes open. In the end though the choice was taken from her as suddenly the world around her seemed to ripple away into something completely different.

***************************************************************************

******************

Real World, 10:00 p.m.

What the h--?! Elisa thought as she suddenly found herself immersed in water with someone seemingly deadset on getting her soaked holding on.

Fighting against this unknown assailant she swam her way back to the surface only to find herself in the blue lake of central park. Looking down at herself she saw that her nightgown was clinging to her body and the shape of her unknown assailant coming up the bottom of the lake to meet her. She clearly recognised Goliath's bulky purple frame and for a moment wondered why he had decided she needed a dunking in the lake in the middle of the night. Then it all came back to her in space of a second and she looked up to see Matt dressed in his usual night clothes(she once had been required to get him out of bed for a case) gradually rising into the air. Lexington and Broadway were in pursuit but it looks like Matt had given them the slip earlier because they each were a good hundred yards away. Elisa immediatley began to swim for shore as fast as she could, pulling for every bit of speed that she could manage in an effort to get to solid ground. It only took her a minute but she feared that it was one minute that she could not afford to waste. She had to get back into the dream plane as fast as she could and help Matt or Freddy would tear him apart. Unfortunately as she pulled herself out of the water she was introduced to some rather unpleasant facts that would interfere with her plans. The first was the searing pain across her ribs and back that prevented her from getting to her feet and the second was the fact that she was shivering from her dip in the ice cold lake. Both of these things made it unlikely she was simply going to be able to fall back asleep right away and she couldn't waste time trying to find a painless way to fall asleep. There was only one chance of making it back to la-la land and it was going to hurt a lot. Getting to one knee while still gripping her injured ribs she turned to look at Goliath as he rose from the lake looking similarly soaken.

"Elisa! You're awake!" Goliath exclaimed with joy as he rushed to her side.

Before he could sweep her into his arms with the usual bear hug she help up her arm to signal him to stop. He stopped immediately and soon saw that she was in significant pain which he quickly felt guilty for since it was he who had tackled her into the water.

"Elisa I am sorry for hurting you but I had no other choice." , Goliath said in apology, "You were under Freddy's control and would not awaken using the usual methods."

"Listen Golaith, there will be more than enough time for apologies later but right now I need you to do something for me." , Elisa said as she struggled to block out the pain, "Hit me."

"What!?!" Goliath exclaimed as he looked at his friend in astonishment.

"Knock me out! I need to get back into the dream world or Matt is going to die!" Elisa ordered as she looked into Goliath's eyes with desperation in her own.

"No Elisa! If you fall asleep again you will be at that murderer's mercy once again!" , Goliath said in a tone that made it clear he would not change his mind, "Lexington and Broadway will wake Matt up any minute now, you need not endanger yourself to rescue him."

"You don't understand! All Freddy is going to need is a few seconds to kill Matt and every second we waste arguing is one less second we have to save him." , Elisa yelled with rage as she forced herself to her feet, "Now knock me out or I'll make you knock me out!!"

"Elisa, please!" Goliath pleaded as he watched his longtime friend hurt herself further.

"Fine! You asked for it!" Elisa said as she prepared to punch Goliath right in the stomach.

She never got the chance though because no sooner had she brought her fist back then a scream filled the air like an air raid siren. Looking up Elisa could see Matt's face twisted in agony as he seemed to simply hang there in mid-air with his arms rigid at his side. Then without warning he shot into the sky so fast that he almost became a blur and made it difficult for anyone to see him. Then all of a sudden he came to a stop and with one final blood curdling scream exploded in a cloud of flesh and blood.

"MATT----!!!!!" Elisa exclaimed in horror as her partner's lifesblood rained down from the sky into the dark blue lake.

In back of her mind she knew that this would happen.

After all that was what had happened in the show but Freddy had twisted it into something far more horrifying. Instead of the simple cloud and descending ashes there were pieces of flesh and bone soaked in dark red blood raining from the sky. Overcome by the horror of the situation she sank into Goliath's arms as she tried to block the image of Matt's bloody death from her mind. No matter how hard she tried though she saw the scene replaying itself over and over in her mind's eye, Matt's pain filled features just seconds before he died. For a moment she cursed herself for not being there to save him, for not finding a way back into the dreamworld before the final blow had been struck. Then she realized that self-recrimination was useless and that the few seconds she might have had back in the dreamworld would not have made the difference she thought it might have. In the end Matt's death had been simply fate and there was nothing she could do about that, it was done and all she could do was move foreward. The problem was what could she do against this sadistic sandman who preyed on people while they slept. They had taken their best shot at him by placing someone near the sleeper and it had blown up in their faces. In the end it was lack of information that was killing them and the few bits and pieces that Burnette had been able to provide were simply not enough. The question was: who knew more about Freddy than the Puck?


End file.
